Business loans for importers and exporters: paying suppliers, carrying freight and waiting for overseas buyers

A shipping container doesn’t care about your cash flow. Once you’ve paid the deposit, the goods are made, loaded, shipped, held at the wharf, cleared through customs, trucked to your warehouse and finally sold. Every one of those stages costs money, and almost none of it comes back until the last one.

That gap is the reason importers and exporters borrow. The amounts can be large and the timing is often outside your control, but the finance tools built for international trade are well established.

Import or export: where does the cash go?

	Importer	Exporter
When you pay out	Supplier deposit, balance before shipping, freight, duty, GST, port and transport charges	Raw materials, production, packaging, freight to port, marketing overseas
When you get paid	When you sell the goods locally, often after weeks or months in stock	When the overseas buyer pays, which may be on arrival or 30 to 90 days later
Biggest risk	Supplier delay or quality failure, currency moves, shipping disruption	Buyer non-payment, currency moves, market access issues
GST pattern	GST paid on imports, usually claimed back as a credit	Sales generally GST-free, so input credits often create a refund
Core finance	Import finance, trade finance, letters of credit	Export finance, invoice finance, production loans

Some businesses sit on both sides, importing components and exporting finished goods, which doubles the timing problem.

How long is an importer out of pocket?

Here’s a common pattern for goods made in Asia:

1. Order: a deposit, often around a third of the order value.
2. Production: four to eight weeks.
3. Before loading: the balance is due, often against shipping documents.
4. At sea: two to six weeks, depending on route and port.
5. At the border: customs duty (where it applies), GST on the value of the goods including freight and insurance, plus port, clearance and transport costs. The Australian Border Force sets out the import process and charges.
6. In stock: until it sells, and then until your customer pays.

From deposit to final payment from your own customer, three to five months is normal. If you place a new order every month, you can have three or four shipments’ worth of cash committed at once. That’s what trade finance is for: it settles with the factory for you and lets you sell before you repay.

Bringing in a bigger order than usual? Send us a quick enquiry, and nothing is recorded on your credit file for asking.

Does import GST have to be paid at the wharf?

Not always. Under the ATO’s deferred GST scheme, an approved importer can push the GST on imported goods to their monthly BAS instead of paying it before the goods are released. Because the same amount is normally claimed back as a credit on that BAS, the net cash effect is often close to nil.

According to the ATO, you need an ABN, GST registration, monthly online BAS lodgement and payment, and an up-to-date record with the ATO on lodgements and payments. Quarterly lodgers have to switch to monthly first. For an importer bringing in several containers a quarter, removing the GST payment from the border can free up a meaningful amount of working capital, and lenders notice when a business has set it up.

Why exporters still need working capital

Exports are generally GST-free when the goods leave Australia within the required time, so exporters charge no GST on those sales while paying it on their inputs. The result is usually a BAS refund. That’s welcome, but it arrives after you’ve spent the money.

Export Market Development Grants help with overseas marketing costs. Austrade’s figures for the 2025–26 and 2026–27 years put the annual ceiling at $30k for tier 1, $50k for tier 2 and $80k for tier 3, with $20k as the floor. Each grant must be matched dollar for dollar by the business, and applicants have to show they can put at least $20k of their own into eligible activities. In other words, an export push still needs cash on hand to run, and the grant doesn’t remove that need.

Foreign buyers often pay on terms, and some of them in their own currency. An invoice financier willing to fund export receivables, or trade credit insurance that makes those receivables more acceptable to a lender, can make a big difference. Export Finance Australia, which is the Commonwealth’s export credit body, also offers loans and guarantees for some exporters, typically alongside a bank.

What do lenders look for?

• Track record with suppliers or buyers. Repeat shipments with the same counterparties build confidence.
• Documentation. Clean purchase orders, commercial invoices, bills of lading and customs records.
• Currency management. Whether you hedge large exposures or price in a buffer.
• Margins after landed cost. Lenders want to see the full cost to land the goods, not just the supplier price.
• Incoterms. Whether you buy free on board or delivered changes who pays freight and when risk passes, and lenders read your contracts with that in mind.
• Tax compliance. Particularly for deferred GST, where overdue lodgements can affect eligibility.

Documents to prepare

1. Accounts for the last two financial years and your latest BAS
2. Bank statements for the business, generally six to twelve months
3. A list of recent shipments with supplier, value, dates and margin
4. Supplier or buyer agreements and pricing
5. A current order you want to fund, with pro forma invoice
6. Details of any currency hedging
7. Aged debtors, including any overseas customers

Example: a homewares importer scaling up

This is a made-up example. A Melbourne homewares importer turns over about $3.5m, buying ceramics and textiles from two factories overseas and selling to independent retailers and online. It wants to move from four shipments a year to eight, which means more than doubling the cash committed to deposits and balances at any one time.

The owners apply for the deferred GST scheme which moves import GST onto the monthly BAS instead of the wharf. A trade finance facility pays each factory’s balance before loading and gives the business 120 days to repay, by which time most of the stock has sold. An invoice finance facility over its retailer accounts funds the 30 day terms those stores expect. The facilities cost more than the bank overdraft they already hold, but the owners compare total dollar costs against the margin on the extra shipments before going ahead.

If you also hold stock and sell on credit at scale, our page on wholesalers and distributors has more on debtor and stock finance, and our guide to trade finance for importers walks through facility structures.

Turn the next shipment into a plan

Whether you’re bringing goods in or sending them out, the right facility closes the gap between paying and being paid, without stretching your overdraft to breaking point.

The enquiry form takes about a minute to complete, and your credit file isn’t touched. We won’t circulate your details among a long line of lenders. Someone here goes through what you’ve said about your shipments, suppliers and buyers, then calls to talk it through. Accurate figures, especially turnover, order sizes and timing, help us bring the most suitable option first.

Get help funding your next shipment →