Most buyers weighing an overseas printer are really choosing between Korea, China and staying domestic. Each route has real strengths. Here's how they compare, side by side.
| Korea | China | Domestic US | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Unit cost | Lower than domestic | Typically the lowest | Highest |
| Ocean transit | 11–18 days to the West Coast | 5–6 weeks to most US destinations | Days — freight only |
| Holiday shutdown | Under a week, twice a year | 6–8 weeks of disruption around Lunar New Year | None material |
| US import duty | Duty-free where it qualifies | Duty-free where it qualifies | Not applicable |
| Country-of-origin marking | "Printed in Korea" | "Printed in China" — required by law on the piece | Optional |
| Minimum quantity | Set per job — offset economics apply | Typically 250–500 | Low, but unit cost rises sharply |
| Editorial & design | In-house design team — files finished for you | Rarely offered; print execution only | Varies; usually a separate agency |
| Working language | English through design decisions | English at sales; production often translated | English |
Note: figures are planning ranges drawn from published carrier and industry data, not quotes. Your numbers depend on specs, quantity and destination.
Korea's national holidays run three days, twice a year, and production resumes the next morning — no wind-down before, no slow restart after.
If you've planned around the multi-week holiday gaps common in Asian production, there's no such window here. A book due in March can be ordered in January.
Production takes one week here — three for case binding. What separates the routes is the ocean.
Port to port. Add customs clearance and inland delivery.
Quote in 3 days, production in 1 week (case-bound 3), then the ocean.
The whole of Korea's annual production interruption.
The East Coast is longer — vessels route through the Panama Canal, and both cost and transit rise accordingly. If your delivery address is east of the Mississippi, ask us to quote both a West Coast entry with inland trucking and a direct East Coast sailing. Which one wins depends on the job.
See the full timeline →Brochures, catalogs and books generally enter the US duty-free as informational materials under HTS Chapter 49 — regardless of where they were printed.
One thing deserves attention: pieces classified as advertising can carry duty. We confirm the classification with you at quote stage, not after the container has sailed — and if you'd like, we handle customs, duties and delivery inside one quoted figure. See the three shipping options →
Most overseas print vendors finish their job at manufacturing: finished files in, cartons out. If your file is unfinished they send it back, and once the ship leaves, they let go.
That works when your files are finished. When they aren't, you need more than a press.
Siha keeps design, editing and file finishing in-house, carries export, freight and customs as part of the job, and holds quality responsibility in one place. Unfinished files — and accountability — never leave the building.
A print broker can change factories. It cannot build an in-house design team.
Your date is five weeks out or more. Ocean transit takes three to five weeks, so a little planning goes a long way. For a fixed date closer than that, a domestic printer is the faster route.
You're printing hundreds or thousands of copies. Offset setup costs spread out as the run grows. For very small runs, a local digital printer is usually the better value.
You print in planned editions. Annual reports, catalogs and anniversary books suit offset. If you reprint in small batches every few weeks, print-on-demand fits that rhythm.
Quality and service matter as much as price. If the lowest unit price is the only goal, China often comes in lower. Korea earns its place when finish, English communication and accountability count too.
Tell us your date and quantity, and we'll recommend the route that fits — even when that's somewhere else.
Just send the specs and the date you need it. Pricing and a schedule come back within three business days.