Peruvian importers paying Chinese suppliers as the Chancay port opens new routes

A Lima home appliance distributor used to buy Chinese goods through an importer in Panama. In 2025, after the Chancay port opened direct services to Shanghai, it started buying from factories in Foshan and Ningbo itself. Its margin improved. Then a balance payment of US$31,500 went to an account in a different name after an email from what looked like the factory's sales manager.

A shorter route to China

China is Peru's largest trading partner. The Peru-China free trade agreement, in force since 2010 and upgraded since, reduces duty on many goods that carry a valid certificate of origin. The Chancay port, a deep-water port north of Lima opened in November 2024, offers direct services to Asia with shorter transit times than routes through other ports.

More Peruvian companies now buy directly from Chinese factories instead of through intermediaries.

Currency

Most Chinese factories invoice exports in dollars. Peruvian importers often already hold dollars, since dollars are common in Peruvian business. Some factories offer a lower price in yuan. Compare it with the dollar price after your cost of buying yuan.

Terms

A common structure:

1. Deposit of about 30 percent on purchase order.
2. Balance against a copy of the bill of lading, once goods are shipped.

For a large first order with a new factory, inspect before shipment and consider a letter of credit.

Fraud checks

Supplier payment fraud usually arrives in a real email thread. Before any payment to a new or changed account:

• check that the account name matches the supplier's legal name,
• be wary of accounts in a different country, such as Hong Kong for a mainland factory, unless the contract says so,
• confirm by video call with a contact you already know,
• require a second person to approve the first payment.

Documents

Your customs broker needs the commercial invoice, packing list, bill of lading and the certificate of origin. Keep payment proof with them.

Paying into Peru: the local rail

Source: Cámara de Compensación Electrónica. Checked when this guide was last updated; the scheme's own page has the current figures.

Where Rivet fits

A Rivet business account accepts registered companies after verification, including Peruvian companies. It holds dollars on US account details in the company's own name and pays suppliers in 120+ countries, with each payment's rate shown before you confirm. From the Growth plan, payouts can require a second approver. Rivet is not a bank; regulated partner institutions hold the funds.

See how to pay suppliers in China.