The China Export & Credit Insurance Corporation (中国出口信用保险公司, Sinosure) is the Chinese state-owned export credit insurance agency. It provides credit insurance to Chinese exporters covering buyer non-payment risk, country political risk, and certain commercial risks. Coverage decisions reflect Chinese underwriter assessment of the foreign buyer’s creditworthiness, a buyer Sinosure rates as coverable signals stronger commercial standing than a buyer Sinosure refuses to cover. Sinosure exposure data is a recurring proxy in Chinese supplier evaluation: a supplier shipping to Sinosure-coverable buyers has more stable cash flow than one shipping to uncoverable buyers.
What Sinosure covers
Three main product categories:
| Product | Coverage |
|---|---|
| Short-term export credit insurance | 90% of insured loss for buyer non-payment within 12 months |
| Medium and long-term export credit insurance | 95% of insured loss for capital goods sales with payment terms beyond 12 months |
| Overseas investment insurance | Political risk on Chinese overseas direct investments |
For chemical exports specifically, the short-term product is the relevant one. A Chinese supplier insures its receivables from foreign buyers, if the buyer fails to pay, Sinosure compensates the supplier up to 90% of the loss after a deductible.
The buyer-creditworthiness signal
Sinosure runs a buyer credit assessment before issuing coverage. The assessment uses:
- The buyer’s financial statements and trade history
- Country risk for the buyer’s country
- Industry risk for the buyer’s sector
- The buyer’s payment history with Chinese exporters generally
- Court-litigation history and credit-bureau data where available
The output is a buyer rating that Sinosure either covers or declines. Coverable buyers split into tiers with different premium rates and coverage limits.
For a foreign buyer evaluating a Chinese supplier relationship, the Sinosure perspective is asymmetrically valuable. The Chinese supplier knows whether the buyer is Sinosure-coverable; the foreign buyer often does not know its own rating with Sinosure.
A buyer can (informally) request its Sinosure rating via the supplier, the supplier can ask Sinosure during their next credit application. A high rating signals to the supplier that buyer-side credit risk is low and may earn better commercial terms (longer payment, larger limits, more flexible incoterms).
How Sinosure ratings drive Chinese supplier behaviour
| Buyer Sinosure status | Typical supplier response |
|---|---|
| Coverable, high rating | Standard or extended payment terms, larger volume capacity, willingness to extend T/T at sight |
| Coverable, lower rating | Standard terms but with collateral or partial advance |
| Coverable but at small limit | Smaller volumes per shipment within Sinosure cover |
| Uncoverable | Cash in advance only, or LC at sight only, often at 100% pre-payment |
For volume buyers running multi-supplier sourcing, an uncoverable rating with one supplier may differ from a coverable rating with another, different suppliers use different Sinosure brokers with different underwriting.
The buyer side: how to improve your Sinosure standing
A foreign buyer can improve its Sinosure rating over time by:
- Demonstrating consistent payment performance with multiple Chinese suppliers, the cumulative payment history is what underwriters look at
- Providing audited financials when requested by suppliers’ Sinosure brokers, voluntary disclosure can move ratings up
- Avoiding payment disputes, a single major dispute reaches Sinosure intelligence and depresses ratings even after resolution
- Maintaining stable trade volume growth, sudden volume spikes attract underwriter scrutiny
Sourzi-mediated transactions can shortcut some of this: the payment is made through Sourzi infrastructure, which Sinosure rates as the named obligor rather than the underlying buyer. For new buyers without Chinese trade history, this routing improves access to Chinese supplier credit terms.
What Sinosure does not do
Sinosure does not:
- Provide buyer-side credit insurance (it insures the Chinese exporter, not the foreign buyer)
- Cover the underlying transaction quality (a defective product is not a Sinosure claim, that is a commercial dispute)
- Cover marine cargo, that is separate marine insurance
- Cover political risk in the supplier’s country (not relevant, the insured is the Chinese exporter)
Sinosure data publication
Sinosure publishes aggregate exposure data quarterly:
- Industry exposure breakdowns (chemicals, machinery, textile, etc.)
- Country exposure breakdowns
- Aggregate claim data
- New-business volume
The data is published in Chinese at sinosure.com.cn. Several China-trade analysts (Chinese-language) and a few English-language services (China Briefing, certain Reuters and Bloomberg syndicated analyses) translate and republish.
For a chemical buyer the data has indirect value, it tells you whether Chinese exporters in your specific industry are tightening credit (Sinosure premiums rising) or loosening (premiums falling). Tightening usually precedes broader credit tightening in the Chinese supplier base.
Operator note: the “Sinosure-coverable Y/N” flag in supplier evaluation
Several Sourzi-style supplier evaluation frameworks include a “Sinosure-coverable” flag as a recurring data element. The flag is proxied via the supplier’s industry classification and historical export volumes, a chemical exporter consistently shipping to a developed-economy market over multiple years is virtually certain to be coverable. A new exporter or one shipping to a high-political-risk market is less certain.
The proxied flag is useful for buyer-side supplier evaluation in two ways:
- A “coverable” supplier has been operating in formal credit-insured channels, signalling regulatory and tax compliance
- An “uncoverable” supplier is operating in informal channels, which may reflect regulatory issues or simply a limited export track record
Either signal is data for supplier qualification. Combined with GACC export records, NECIPS business-license data, and court-litigation cross-reference, the Sinosure flag completes a picture.
Related terms
LC is the parallel commercial-credit instrument. T/T is the standard payment mode that Sinosure-coverable buyers can access. Bank acceptance bill is the Chinese-domestic alternative. Documentary collection is a related Western instrument with different risk allocation.