What AI tools answer when a company looks for help importing from China

No name owns this sector in AI answers

The study’s most cited name, Guelcos, appears in 19 of 96 responses. That is not leadership: it is less than one fifth. Next come China Gate with 14, and BRChina with 12; the gap between first and third is 7 percentage points. There are 20 different advisory firms cited and 105 mentions in 96 responses.

The count that matters most on this page is different: in 50 of 96 responses, more than half, AI answers the question without naming any company: it explains the process, mentions RADAR, NCM and tax, and tells the reader to search independently. In a sector with a dominant name, the competition is for position. Here, the competition is to exist in the answer.

11 of the 20 advisory firms appear in three responses or fewer. They appear when the question becomes more specific: who conducts factory inspection, handles customs clearance, serves companies without RADAR, or arranges shared imports. Almost none appear in answers to broad questions.

Either AI cites no one or it cites several

In 50 of 96 responses no name appears. Of the 46 where one does appear, 29 contain two or more names and only 17 contain one. Most often, a name entering the response does not enter alone: it competes for a place in a list, and where it appears matters as much as appearing.

Broker Comex has an average position of 1.0: when cited, it is usually the first name. Serpa China is at the other extreme, appearing in 5 responses and averaging position 3.2, after the reader has already seen other names.

Each tool recommends a different advisory firm

This is the study’s most uneven finding. China Link appears in 32% of Google responses and 0% of Claude responses: 32 points between its best and worst tool. This is not a difference in list position; it is the difference between being present and being absent.

In a sector with no dominant name, this matters more than in a concentrated sector: no name is repeated by every tool, so the same company can be the first option in one assistant and not exist in another. It is the difference between competing for position and competing for existence.

Being read by AI almost guarantees being cited by it

In 44 of 96 responses, it is possible to see which sites the tool consulted. There were 107 different sites, and the most used is gov.br, in 13 of 44. Among the ten most used, 6 are sites of the advisory firms measured and 4 are external, such as gov.br and destinochina.com.

What the tool reads also appears in what it writes: when the platform’s site was consulted, its name appeared in the response 72% of the time. When it was not consulted, the name appeared in 3%. AI writes the name of the firm whose site it read.

Here is the detail that separates this sector from the others we measure: the most-used source site belongs to no company. It is gov.br, the government portal, in 13 of 44 responses with sources. AI goes to government to understand import rules and only then, if at all, looks for a service provider. Those writing content on RADAR, NCM and licensing are competing for the place gov.br occupies today.

Some names cited by AI are excluded from the table, and it is fair to say which. They are marketplaces: they appear because nearly every question about importing from China touches on where to find a supplier, and the most cited of them, Alibaba, is written in 17 of 96 responses. But a marketplace is a shop window: it does not negotiate for you, inspect a factory or clear customs. Also excluded are Bureau Veritas (6), SGS (5) and Western Union (4): two international inspection certifiers and a payment method, each providing one stage rather than taking responsibility for the import.

The broad question is the only one where anyone truly appears

The 25 questions were written in four categories: general recommendations, operation type, service stage and informational. In the broadest category—the 20 responses to people only asking which advisory firm is best— Guelcos appears in 45% and BRChina in 35%. It is the only category in which a company exceeds one third of responses.

In the other three categories, no one exceeds one fifth. In the 20 informational responses—from people asking advisory costs, applicable taxes, or how to avoid supplier scams—the most cited is at 20%. In the service-stage category, which concerns actual purchase decisions, the category leader appears in little more than one tenth. These are questions with an audience but no name included.

How we measure

• We asked the 25 questions in 4 tools, once each, in September 2026. That would yield 100 responses; we retained 96. In Perplexity, 21 of 25 were retained: 4 captures failed. Each question was asked in a clean window, temporary conversation without history, from an IP in Brazil. We saved every screenshot.
• No question names an advisory firm. All ask for recommendations, as someone importing would ask.
• We count only when AI writes the advisory firm’s name in the response. When the name appears only in the list of sites consulted, it does not enter this count: that is something else, measured separately in section 04.
• We count only what the tool wrote. Site cards, videos and map listings around the response are excluded because AI is not choosing the name there.
• The names in the table came from the responses themselves. We did not begin with a ready-made list, so no outside advisory firm ‘should’ be there: if it was not cited once, it does not appear.
• Each name is counted separately, even when two rows belong to the same company. The table shows the name as AI wrote it. Where the same company is written in two forms, it occupies two rows because that is how it reaches those reading the response.

What this study does not say

• Nothing about service quality. What is measured is what AI tools answer, not which advisory firm imports better or charges less.
• Nothing about how much each thing is searched. The 25 questions reflect how people ask, not a sample weighted by search volume.
• Nothing about what AI answers for you. Responses vary with the preceding conversation, region and day. This is a September 2026 snapshot in a clean window.
• Nothing about how to change this result. This material measures; it is not an action plan.

The 25 questions, in full

Original Portuguese research evidence, preserved as recorded.

1. 01qual a melhor assessoria para importar da china
2. 02me indique uma empresa que cuida de importacao da china
3. 03quais as melhores empresas de assessoria em importacao do brasil
4. 04quem contratar para importar produtos da china com seguranca
5. 05qual trading company brasileira e boa para importar da asia
6. 06assessoria de importacao para quem vai importar pela primeira vez
7. 07quero importar da china para revender qual empresa me ajuda
8. 08assessoria de importacao para pequena empresa
9. 09como uma loja de ecommerce importa direto da china
10. 10quem ajuda a importar maquinas e equipamentos da china
11. 11assessoria de importacao para empresa que nao tem radar
12. 12vale mais a pena importar sozinho ou contratar uma assessoria
13. 13empresa que faz sourcing e encontra fornecedor na china
14. 14quem faz inspecao de fabrica e auditoria de fornecedor na china
15. 15empresa que cuida do desembaraco aduaneiro da importacao
16. 16onde fazer importacao compartilhada com outras empresas
17. 17quem calcula o custo total de importacao antes de eu comprar
18. 18assessoria que resolve certificacao inmetro e anatel do produto importado
19. 19empresa que leva empresario na feira de canton para comprar
20. 20quem cuida do frete internacional e da logistica da china ate meu galpao
21. 21quanto custa contratar uma assessoria de importacao
22. 22como funciona a importacao da china passo a passo
23. 23quais impostos eu pago para importar da china
24. 24ainda vale a pena importar da china em 2026
25. 25como nao cair em golpe de fornecedor chines