For the same category and the same consignment moving from China to Brazil, landed cost can vary by several percentage points. The variance does not come from the tariff schedule — it comes from three structural choices.
1. Completeness of the export rebate filing
Whether the rebate arrives in full depends on how well input invoices, the customs declaration and the foreign-exchange receipt reconcile. A mismatch between the filing basis and the declaration basis is the main reason rebates are delayed.
2. How Incoterms shape the tax base
FOB, CIF and DDP correspond to different tax bases and different parties bearing risk. The Incoterm determines whether freight and insurance enter the importing country's tax base, and who carries clearance risk. The right choice follows the buyer's tax status and funding arrangements, not industry habit.
3. Settlement route and FX cost
A cross-border settlement route affects two things: time to receipt and currency conversion cost. On long-payment-term orders, route design is often worth more than negotiating on rates.
The three variables must be read together. Optimising any one in isolation tends to give the gain back somewhere else. In the proposal stage we model all three on a single sheet and recommend a combination.