Importing from Paraguay and Ciudad del Este: what works for the tourist does not work for the reseller

Ciudad del Este has existed for decades as one of South America's largest border-trade hubs, and a good share of what is sold there arrived from China first. It is tempting to read that proximity as a shortcut: since the product is right there, closer and cheaper, why not just go buy it and bring it back to resell? The short answer is that this shortcut has a physical and legal ceiling much lower than it looks, and there is a formal path, on the Paraguayan side, for anyone who genuinely wants to operate at scale. This guide separates the two.

The shopping quota exists for the tourist, not the reseller

The exemption quota is the amount a traveller can bring in from abroad without paying Import Tax, and it is designed for personal baggage, not commercial cargo. For anyone entering by land, river or lake crossing, as is the case of the Friendship Bridge between Ciudad del Este and Foz do Iguaçu, the amount is US$ 500 per person. For anyone entering by air, it rises to US$ 1,000.

Three details make this quota narrower than counter-talk usually suggests:

• It only applies to accompanied baggage. The quota covers what the person carries with them on the crossing, and cannot be used for merchandise shipped by mail or by a freight carrier. In practice, that is a physical ceiling: only what fits in the car or the backpack of whoever crosses gets in.
• It can only be used every 30 days. The count runs from the last international trip, not the calendar month. Whoever crosses every week carrying bags is not using the quota over and over: on most of those crossings, there is no quota left to use at all.
• Personal-use items do not count towards it. Clothes and items the person actually uses on the trip are treated separately. What makes up the quota is what is bought to take along, new, still in its packaging, which is exactly the profile of merchandise meant for resale.

There are also quantity limits per category, independent of value: up to 12 litres of alcoholic drinks, 10 packs of foreign-made cigarettes and 25 cigars or cigarillos per person. A batch of merchandise meant to stock a shop does not fit this design in any way, and that is why the first thing to understand is that the quota solves the tourist's suitcase, not the shopkeeper's inventory.

What happens above the quota, and why it is not only a matter of paying more tax

Going over the quota has one consequence set out in law, and another the law treats as a crime, and the gap between the two is bigger than it looks.

The one set out in law: the amount that exceeds the quota pays Import Tax at a flat rate of 50% on the excess, under the so-called Special Taxation Regime, still respecting the per-category quantity limits mentioned above. Above US$ 3,000 in total value of the goods, the Electronic Declaration of Traveler's Goods, the e-DBV, becomes mandatory, which in 2026 became something you can fill in from your phone, with no prior registration.

The part that is not just tax: bringing in merchandise without declaring it, evading the tax owed, is the crime of descaminho, set out in article 334 of the Brazilian Penal Code, with a sentence of one to four years in prison, regardless of the type of product carried, as long as the tax fraud is established. On top of that comes the forfeiture penalty, which is the administrative seizure of the goods by Receita Federal, applied even when there is no criminal case.

This is not hypothetical, it is enforcement already under way. In July 2026, a joint operation by the Federal Police, Receita Federal, the Military Police and the Army seized a shipment of foreign wine bottles transported irregularly in Foz do Iguaçu. In September 2026, Receita Federal seized iPhone units brought in outside the baggage regime in the same city. The pattern enforcement watches for is not the value of a single purchase, it is repetition: frequent crossings, always with new merchandise, always the same product profile, is the picture of someone buying to resell under the wrong regime.

Whoever already buys seriously in Ciudad del Este is not a tourist, they are a formal importer

It is worth noticing who actually moves volume in Ciudad del Este, because that undoes the idea that there is an informal shortcut to wholesale there. The biggest names in the city's trade, such as Shopping China Importados, named "Importer of the Year" four years running by the Paraguayan trade press, along with chains such as Cellshop and Nissei, are formally registered importers, with a Sole Taxpayer Registry (RUC) and registration with the DNIT's Sole Importer Window, the same process described in the guide on importing from China to Mercosur.

There is even a trade body of its own, the Centro de Importadores del Paraguay, which brings these operators together and discusses, in public, at events and in bulletins, topics such as the sector's growing purchases from China. In other words: the "Ciudad del Este price" a Brazilian buyer sees on the shelf already carries the margin of a formal Paraguayan importer, who did the work of importing from China, paying Paraguayan taxes and setting up the retail operation.

For anyone who wants to build a real resale catalogue, that changes the question. Instead of "how do I buy cheap in Ciudad del Este", the question that pays off is "why pay a Paraguayan importer's margin, if the same Chinese factory that supplies Ciudad del Este can supply you directly". In most cases, the answer is that there is no reason at all: the map of industrial clusters shows where the factories that today sell to those Paraguayan wholesalers are, and they are the same ones that sell to any Brazilian importer buying at the right volume.

The Maquila Law: the other Paraguay, the industrial one

There is, in fact, a Paraguayan regime built for real scale, only it has nothing to do with going to buy boxes at a shop. It is the Maquila Law, regime nº 1.064/97, which lets a foreign company set up in Paraguay, or subcontract an existing Paraguayan company, to process or manufacture goods for export, with value added in the country.

The tax advantage is real: the maquila operation pays just 1% tax on the value added, and is exempt from practically all other taxes that would apply along the chain, from importing raw materials and inputs through to exporting the final product, including Paraguayan VAT. In 2025, Law nº 7,547 updated the whole regime: it extended the benefits to services, on top of goods, extended the duration of the advantages to up to 20 years, renewable, and reinforced the exemption on profits and dividends. The Paraguayan government regulated this update in April 2026.

The numbers show it is not a niche regime: in January 2026, 70% of exports under Paraguay's maquila regime were destined for Brazil, adding up to US$ 115 million in that month alone, up 15% year on year, with 35,354 direct jobs and 4,961 authorised operations.

The difference that matters: the Maquila Law serves whoever sets up an operation actually installed in Paraguay, with a Paraguayan RUC, its own production process and an export plan, not whoever wants to buy a ready-made batch at a shop in Ciudad del Este. These are two different Paraguays, and each one solves a different problem.

The new bridge changes the corridor, but it is not yet for cargo

One factor that will reshape this border in the coming years is the Integration Bridge, inaugurated on 19 December 2025 between Foz do Iguaçu and Presidente Franco, on the Paraguayan side, as a second road crossing besides the historic Friendship Bridge. The opening, however, is being done in stages: as of September 2026, the bridge remains released mostly for empty trucks and part of the tourist traffic, with a new phase of vehicle release expected to start in August 2026.

Full operation for commercial cargo depends on the completion of works on the Paraguayan side, chiefly the Corredor Metropolitano del Este, more than 30 kilometres of roads that will link Presidente Franco, Ciudad del Este, Hernandarias, Minga Guazú and Los Cedrales. The expectation, at the time this guide was published, is that cargo operation will start running in full between the end of 2026 and the start of 2027.

📌 This point is worth rechecking between the end of 2026 and the start of 2027, because a second cargo route genuinely working between Foz do Iguaçu and Ciudad del Este changes the logistics calculation for anyone operating formally in the region, something that today runs into the historic bottleneck of the Friendship Bridge.

Where BCVN comes in: skip the middleman and go straight to the factory

Putting the pieces together, the picture is clear. The shopping quota covers the travel souvenir and the tourist's suitcase, with a ceiling of US$ 500 to US$ 1,000 every 30 days, and nothing beyond that. Buying a bigger volume from a wholesaler in Ciudad del Este means paying the margin of a Paraguayan importer who has already, formally, done the work you could also do. And setting up a maquila operation is an industrial project, not an alternative to a one-off purchase.

For anyone who wants to build a real resale catalogue, the path that actually scales is the same one the big Ciudad del Este wholesalers use: go straight to the Chinese factory, with the correct tariff classification, as described in the guide on NCM and tariff classification, and the formal import processed in Brazil. It is the work BCVN has already been doing for 18 years, without depending on a traveller's quota or a Paraguayan middleman's margin. To fit this decision into the year's calendar, with trade fairs and the buying window on the same map, the 2027 sourcing plan shows from when each step needs to start. And if the catalogue also targets the bigger neighbour, the guide on importing from China to Argentina maps what changed there between 2023 and 2026.

BCVN — Brasil China Viagens e Negócios has connected Brazilian companies to the best suppliers in China and Asia since 2008. Find out about our services in commercial intermediation, quality inspection, factory audits and guided business trips to China's main trade fairs.

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