Food and agricultural exports from Iran to China

Since 2 March 2026, Iran has restricted exports of food and agricultural products. It exempts products in lists published through Iran’s Trade Promotion Organization. By 31 August 2026, 17 exemption lists had been published, according to Global Trade Alert. Before planning any shipment, check whether your category is currently exempt.

This guide covers the other half: what China requires. Registration, market access, certificates and labels involve the authorities of both countries, and much of that work can be done before a category is exempt. Producers can use the waiting time to prepare. The rules below are as of 8 October 2026.

Who must register with China’s customs (GACC)?

Since 1 June 2026, every overseas plant that produces or processes food for export to China, and every overseas cold store holding food of land-animal or aquatic origin for China, must be registered with the General Administration of Customs of China (GACC) under GACC Decree No. 280. Decree 280 replaced Decree 248 on that date, so guides written before June 2026 describe rules that no longer apply. Makers of food additives and food-related products are outside this registration regime.

The route depends on the category:

• Official recommendation. For the 17 categories listed in GACC Announcement 2026 No. 27 (18 March 2026), the application must include an audit report and a recommendation letter from the exporting country’s competent authority. GACC can change the list. In Iran, confirm with the competent authority for your category which body issues the recommendation.
• Self-application. For all other food, the producer applies itself or through an agent.

Both routes use GACC’s online registration system, CIFER, on China’s International Trade Single Window (cifer.singlewindow.cn). GACC charges no fee and warns producers against imitation sites. A product category search in the system shows which categories and HS codes the registration covers.

Registration is valid for five years and, under Decree 280, renews automatically for most categories. Producers in the categories GACC excludes from automatic renewal apply 3 to 12 months before expiry.

A registered producer must mark its registration number on the food packaging: either the China registration number or the number issued by its home competent authority. The Chinese importer enters the China registration number in the customs declaration (licence code 519), and customs does not accept a declaration that leaves it out.

Do primary agricultural products follow a separate regime?

Yes: since 15 December 2025, GACC Announcement 2025 No. 219 has applied a second registration and declaration regime to primary agricultural products. It is run by GACC’s animal and plant quarantine department and lists plant- and animal-origin primary products whose overseas enterprises must be registered on the official recommendation of the exporting country.

The Chinese importer must make sure the goods come from a registered enterprise in normal status and give its registration number in the customs declaration. Announcement 2026 No. 27 keeps this catalogue under Announcement 219, separate from Decree 280, so a producer of agricultural products should check both lists.

Is your category allowed into China at all?

Registration alone is not enough: China admits food and agricultural products country by country and product by product, a step known as market access. Under Decree 249, GACC may evaluate the exporting country’s food-safety system when that country first applies to export a category to China. For plant and animal products, GACC also carries out a risk analysis, and the two governments agree the inspection and quarantine requirements, usually in a bilateral protocol that GACC then publishes in an announcement.

GACC’s Import and Export Food Safety Bureau publishes an online catalogue of permitted foods by country, with an access status for each entry. Check your category there, through GACC’s website, before any commercial discussion. Check the specific category, not just the broad product group.

GACC publishes the inspection and quarantine requirements for each permitted category from each country as an announcement; check whether one exists for your category from Iran, and confirm with Iran’s agriculture authority. Access is granted per category, so requirements for one category do not open the market for another.

Which certificates travel with the goods?

Each consignment carries the official certificate named in the relevant protocol or GACC announcement: usually a phytosanitary certificate for plant products or a health certificate for animal-origin products, issued by the exporting country’s competent authority. Customs checks these accompanying certificates as part of its conformity assessment under Decree 249.

Which Iranian body issues each certificate depends on the category. Confirm with the competent authority for your category, and compare the certificate’s wording with the GACC announcement for it, before the goods are packed; some announcements require additional declarations on the certificate.

Buyers also commonly ask for a certificate of origin. China and Iran have no preferential trade agreement, so it is a non-preferential certificate. In every case, the customs declaration must state the country of origin, and the producer’s registration number must belong to a producer in that country. Our guide to shipping documents for Iran–China trade covers the full set.

What happens with labels and inspection on arrival?

Prepackaged food needs a Chinese label that meets national standard GB 7718-2011 today; the revised GB 7718-2025 and the new Food Labelling Supervision Measures (SAMR Decree No. 100) both take effect on 16 March 2027. For imported food, the label shows the country of origin, the name and address of the importer or agent, and the producer’s registration number. It may be printed or added as a sticker, but for certain categories it must be printed on the smallest sales package.

Before goods arrive, both trading parties must be filed with customs under Decree 249. The overseas exporter or its agent files with GACC, and the Chinese importer files with the customs office where it is based. The importer also keeps import and sales records and, where a category needs an entry quarantine permit, obtains it before signing the contract.

The filing rules may change. In March 2026 GACC consulted on a draft revision, notified to the WTO on 24 March 2026 as G/TBT/N/CHN/2239, that would shorten the forms and set a processing time of three working days. It is a draft only; until a final text is adopted, the current rules apply.

On arrival, customs checks the documents and selects shipments for inspection and sampling based on risk, which can add one to ten days, according to USDA’s 2026 report on China’s import rules. Labels are checked as part of the inspection. Goods that fail on safety, health or environmental grounds are returned or destroyed; other failures may first be corrected under customs supervision. Where risks appear, customs can raise sampling rates or suspend imports of a category.

What are the steps, in order?

Step	Who	Where
Check the category is currently exempt from Iran’s export restriction	Exporter	Iran’s Trade Promotion Organization
Check China admits the category from Iran	Exporter and importer	GACC catalogue of permitted foods
Register the producer, with official recommendation if required	Producer; Iranian competent authority	CIFER
Check whether the primary agricultural products regime applies	Producer and importer	GACC Announcement 2025 No. 219
File as exporter and as importer	Exporter; Chinese importer	GACC; importer’s local customs
Obtain any entry quarantine permit before the contract	Chinese importer	GACC
Prepare the Chinese label and mark the registration number	Importer and producer	GB 7718; packaging
Obtain the official certificate and certificate of origin	Exporter	Competent authority; origin issuer
Declare, then pass document checks and any inspection	Chinese importer	Customs at the port of entry

What this means for you

For an Iranian producer, the order matters: confirm your category is currently exempt in Iran, confirm China admits it from Iran, then register, file and prepare the certificates and labels. Much of the registration and label work can be prepared now. For a Chinese importer, filing, any quarantine permit, the Chinese label and a declaration carrying the producer’s registration number are your own obligations.

Transport is a separate question. Mehan’s trade desk publishes the current corridor status and a route planner. For the documents that travel with a shipment, see shipping documents for Iran–China trade; for dividing costs and risks between buyer and seller, see choosing an Incoterm for Iran–China trade.