Category file · chocolate

Buy Swiss chocolate
and ship it anywhere.

Bars, pralines, truffles and gift boxes from Läderach, Sprüngli, Lindt, Frey, Cailler and a long tail of regional chocolatiers.

Classified HS 1806.31 / 1806.90Chocolate, filled and unfilled
The constraint is temperature, not customs

Chocolate is admissible almost everywhere. What actually ruins these orders is heat in transit and fillings that break a destination rule — alcohol into the Gulf, dairy into biosecurity markets. Both are solvable, and both have to be solved before we buy rather than after it melts.

May–SepInsulated packing with cold packs, at no extra charge
No fresh creamLuxemburgerli and cream fillings do not survive at any time of year
Check fillingsAlcohol centres are prohibited across the Gulf
54 CHF/kgTypical value density — freight is a real share of the total

Where it can go

Swiss chocolate,
destination by destination.

Admissibility is decided by what the goods are, not by what they cost. This is the row of the grid for Swiss chocolate — every cell links to the full country file behind it.

Can it arrive · HS 1806.31 / 1806.906 clear · 9 conditional · 1 refused
United Statesclear

Admissible. Prior Notice filing required for food imports, which we submit.

 Japanclear

Admissible. Dairy-filled products in commercial volume need extra documentation.

 United Arab Emiratesconditional

No alcohol in any filling. A single liqueur praline can hold the whole consignment.

 Singaporeclear

Admissible. GST applies from the first dollar, as on everything.

 Australiaconditional

Admissible, but slow transit in a hot climate. We advise on arrival timing.

 United Kingdomclear

Admissible. Short route, so summer risk is materially lower here.

 Canadaconditional

Admissible, but chocolate is a processed agricultural good and sits outside the Canada-EFTA duty relief. CFIA labelling rules apply.

 Germanyclear

Admissible. Two days in transit, so temperature-controlled packing is only needed in high summer.

 Franceclear

Admissible. Short route, low summer risk.

 Chinaconditional

Admissible in personal quantities. Dairy-filled lines are screened; labelling rules apply to commercial volumes.

 Indiaconditional

Admissible, but the layered duty and IGST make small orders poor value. Dairy-filled lines are screened.

 Saudi Arabiarefused

Liqueur-filled and alcohol-flavoured confectionery is prohibited outright. Plain lines are admissible; we check every ingredient list.

 South Koreaconditional

Admissible in personal quantities. Commercial volumes need MFDS food registration.

 South Africaconditional

Admissible in personal quantities. Long transit means temperature packing on every shipment.

 New Zealandconditional

Admissible, but biosecurity declarations are checked closely. No dairy-filled lines.

 Brazilconditional

Admissible, but the cascading tax makes anything under CHF 300 uneconomic.
Solid bars and pralines assumed. Filled and cream products are assessed separately. Showing 16 of 190 destinations — the full table is searchable, and every rule here is the same record that prices your quote.

Is it worth moving

Weight decides
more than duty does.

Air freight is charged on the greater of actual and volumetric weight, so what matters is value per chargeable kilo rather than value alone. A watch and a wheel of cheese are taxed similarly and shipped completely differently.

Freight as a share of goods valuetypical order → Japan
Swiss watches one watch3%
Swiss electronics one device6%
Swiss cosmetics two sets10%
Swiss coffee machines one machine11%
Swiss outdoor equipment a pack and a jacket22%
Swiss chocolate 20 boxes24%
Swiss cheese six pieces, 6.6 kg59%

At 54 CHF per chargeable kilo, Swiss chocolate carries a moderate freight share on a realistic order. Sensible on its own, and better still consolidated with something denser.

Worth ordering

What to actually order.

Ranked by how well it survives the journey, not by how good it is on the shelf in Zürich.

  • ✓Solid bars and tabletsThe most reliable thing in this category. Travel well year round, cheap per unit, and Frey and Cailler are close to unobtainable abroad.
  • ✓Läderach FrischSchoggiBroken slabs of fresh chocolate. Robust enough for export and the single most requested Swiss gift we handle.
  • ✓Praliné boxesFine outside summer, and fine inside it with insulated packing. Present well as corporate gifts.
  • ✓Corporate gift runsSeveral hundred units with bespoke wrapping and individual cards. Order six weeks ahead.
  • ✓Mixed-maker selectionsA box drawn across five Swiss chocolatiers is something no single retailer sells, and it is exactly what a purchasing office can assemble.
  • ✓Hot chocolate and cocoaPowder is shelf-stable, light and completely indifferent to temperature.

Not worth ordering

What we decline.

Refusals here are about physics and fillings. Both are predictable, which is why we sort them before you pay.

  • ✕Fresh cream confectioneryLuxemburgerli and cream-filled pralines have days of shelf life. They cannot make an export lane.
  • ✕Alcohol-filled chocolate to the GulfKirsch centres and liqueur pralines are prohibited. We substitute an alcohol-free equivalent.
  • ✕Anything already close to its dateWe check on arrival and reject short-dated stock during inspection.
  • ✕Summer shipments to hot climates without insulationWe will not ship uninsulated into a July arrival. If you decline the packing, we decline the order.
  • ✕Chocolate as the only item in a heavy parcelAt 54 CHF/kg the freight share is high. Consolidate it with something denser.

Handling

How we pack
and move it.

Category-specific handling, applied as standard rather than sold as an upgrade.

Seasonal packingInsulated liner and cold packs from May to September, included at no extra charge.
Arrival timingWe can hold a consignment to avoid a weekend sitting in a hot depot. Ask and we will time it.
Ingredient screeningEvery filling is checked against the destination before purchase, not after.
Gift presentationSwiss paper, ribbon and a handwritten card for CHF 20. Photographed before sealing.
ConsolidationChocolate pairs well in a parcel with something dense. The freight is the same; the share falls.

Where we buy it

The Swiss retailers
behind this category.

Each one has its own checkout wall, its own lead time and its own quirks. We hold accounts at all of them.

Coop

4/5 blocked
Sitecoop.ch
Supermarket pricing on Frey, Lindt and Cailler.

Migros

4/5 blocked
Sitemigros.ch
Frey, the house manufacturer, at the best value in Swiss retail.

Galaxus

3/5 blocked
Sitegalaxus.ch
Gift sets and bulk boxes with reliable stock data.

Questions

Buying Swiss chocolate, answered.

Will it melt?

Not with the right packing, and we do it as standard rather than as an upsell. From May to September chocolate ships in an insulated liner with cold packs at no extra charge, and we will time dispatch to avoid an arrival that sits over a weekend. What no packing can save is fresh cream confectionery — Luxemburgerli and similar have a few days of life and we will tell you so rather than take the order.

Can you do a corporate gift run?

Yes, and it is one of our most common bulk requests. Several hundred boxes, bespoke wrapping, individual cards, one consolidated shipment to one address or many. Allow six weeks for anything with custom packaging or printing, and expect us to send photographs of a sample before the full run.

Which Swiss chocolate is actually worth shipping?

The ones your recipient cannot already buy. Lindt is sold worldwide; Frey, Cailler, Läderach and the regional chocolatiers largely are not. We will happily assemble a box across several makers, which is something no single Swiss retailer sells.

Is the freight worth it?

At roughly 54 CHF per kilo of value, chocolate carries a higher freight share than most things we ship — usually somewhere around a fifth of the goods value. On a realistic order of twenty boxes it lands around a quarter of the goods value. Well worth it for a gift or something unobtainable locally, poor economics for a bar you can buy at home, and consolidating it with something denser fixes most of the gap.

Tell us the makers and the destination.

Start a request → Email a buyer

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