Ceramic tableware, sourced where the world actually makes it.
CERAMICS buys from the kilns of Chaozhou, Jingdezhen, Dehua and Liling — and runs the parts buyers usually get wrong: kiln vetting, golden samples and MOQ economics.
Four belts, four specialties.
China supplied 65.37% of world daily-use ceramics exports in 2024; Germany, in second place, held 4.45%. That gap is the point — you are buying from the source, not from a middleman in front of it. We place each program where its process lives.
Chaozhou
China's largest daily-use ceramics production base — the default source for dinnerware and teaware OEM at scale, with mature molds and short development cycles.
Jingdezhen
The porcelain capital — high-fired fine porcelain, celadon and hand-decorated lines where glaze character leads the brief.
Dehua
White porcelain and export craft ceramics — gift and seasonal programs backed by decades of export experience.
Liling
Home of underglaze five-color decoration — color sealed beneath the glaze, the structural basis of low lead and cadmium release.
We shortlist kilns the way a buyer would — if the buyer lived here.
A marketplace returns a thousand factories. It cannot tell you which one will hold your glaze at volume, month after month. Before any deposit moves, each kiln passes a fixed verification sequence:
- Credentials and export record — business license, customs record, category history at your volume band.
- Capability review — firing temperatures, mold library, decoration capacity, confirmed on site or by third-party audit.
- Reference calls — with current export customers, not with the sales team.
- Trial order before scale — a pilot quantity measured against the golden sample before container commitments.
| Kiln tier | Profile | What we run there |
|---|---|---|
| Stock-line dinnerware kilns | High volume, mature molds, stable whites | Core wholesale dinnerware and teaware programs |
| High-fire and art kilns | Fine porcelain bodies fired at 1280–1380 °C; celadon, hand decoration | Premium, boutique and gift lines |
| Underglaze and decoration specialists | Sealed-color underglaze and decal capacity | Compliance-led programs for regulated markets |
The sample you approve is the sample that ships.
In ceramics, the sample is the contract. We treat it that way — sealed, referenced and enforced at every later checkpoint.
- Three-party sealing — one signed golden set stays with the kiln, one with inspection, one in our file.
- Glaze variation band — reactive and kiln-variant glazes are approved as a written band (photos plus fired tiles), not as one unreachable color.
- Decoration sign-off — decal tone, underglaze blue depth and rim line weight approved on the golden set before the mass run.
- Referenced at every gate — inline and pre-shipment inspections compare production to the sealed set, in writing.
- Samples couriered DDP — duty-paid delivery so approval is never stuck in customs.
- No silent substitutions — body, glaze or decoration changes require a new golden sample and your written approval.
MOQ on the table, cost levers with it.
Two tiers, stated up front — no bait numbers that change after the deposit. Final MOQ is confirmed per SKU in your quote.
| Program type | Typical MOQ | What drives it |
|---|---|---|
| Stock line (existing mold and glaze) | 500 pcs per item (typical) | Shelf-ready programs; the fastest path to a first order |
| Custom development (new mold, custom glaze or decal) | 1000–3000 pcs per item (typical) | Mold and glaze complexity; quoted per SKU |
- Mold reuse before mold making — existing forms adapted to your brand cut tooling cost and lead time.
- Glaze family discipline — one glaze family across several forms means fewer changeovers and tighter color consistency.
- Mixed-SKU container consolidation — several items loaded into one program to hit MOQs without overstocking any of them.
- Carton cube design — more pieces per container at the same protection level.
- Duty-aware terms — FOB, CIF or DDP priced with the duty line visible, not folded into the unit price.
Six failures we are set up to prevent.
Glaze drift between runs
The white you approved in March is not the white that lands in September.
Samples that outrun production
A hand-finished sample wins the order; the mold line that follows does not match it.
MOQ bait-and-switch
A low number to win the order, a different story once the deposit lands.
No eyes on kiln output
Defects surface at your warehouse, weeks after the ship sailed.
Wrong body for the duty
A decorative body specified for hotel service chips in the first week of use.
Lead times that only move one way
Double firings, decal queues and pre-holiday peaks quietly add weeks.
From brief to delivered cartons, in five steps.
Brief & kiln match
Spec, target cost, volumes and market. You get a shortlist of kilns and the reason for each.
Golden samples
Produced, sealed three ways and couriered DDP; glaze variation band agreed in writing.
Production & inline checks
First-article sign-off, then in-process checks during forming, firing and decoration.
Pre-shipment AQL
Random sampling against the sealed set, with photo and measurement evidence.
Packing & delivery
Fragile-grade packing; air for samples, sea and rail for reorders; DDP with duties shown.
Sourcing questions we hear most.
What MOQ do I need to start?+
Stock lines typically start at 500 pieces per item; custom development with new molds or glazes typically runs 1000–3000 pieces per item. Both figures are typical, and the final MOQ is confirmed per SKU in your quote. Where a quantity is not yet viable for the kiln, we tell you before you spend on sampling.
Can you match our reference sample or existing glaze?+
Yes — a physical reference is the best starting point, followed by glaze iteration on sample rounds. Reactive glazes are approved as a written variation band rather than a single color, and underglaze tones are matched against fired test tiles from the target kiln, since recipes differ by kiln.
Which production belt will my order run in?+
Matched by process: Chaozhou for scale dinnerware and teaware OEM, Jingdezhen for high-fired fine porcelain and hand-decorated lines, Dehua for white porcelain and gift programs, Liling for underglaze five-color work. You are told which kiln, and why, before any deposit.
Do you quote FOB or delivered?+
FOB, CIF or DDP — your choice, with the duty basis stated on every line. US programs run DDP with duties prepaid; EU quotes show the anti-dumping duty explicitly, included or excluded. See the Tariffs & Trade Guide for current rates.
Tell us what you are buying.
A product list, a reference sample or an idea — you will get kiln options, glaze paths, MOQ and a duty-shown price in reply.