A new 20GP currently quotes in the range of $2,000 to $2,500 ex-works China, and a new 40HC in the range of $3,100 to $3,500 ex-works, before any freight. These are ranges rather than list prices because steel input cost, batch size, paint system and spec extras move a unit inside them, and because factories reprice as production plans fill. The current figures are published every month in the monthly market report.
Ex-works is the price of the finished container standing in the factory yard. It includes the steel, the build, the paint system, the CSC plating and the classification-society survey, and it includes nothing about moving the box. Every cost after the yard gate is separate: inland haulage to the export terminal, export clearance, the ocean leg, terminal handling at both ends and inland haulage at destination.
This matters when you compare quotations. An ex-works number and a delivered number are not the same kind of number, and the gap between them is often larger than the gap between two factories.
Steel is the largest single input, so corten plate pricing sets the floor and moves first. Batch size comes next: a run of ten units and a run of two hundred are quoted differently because the setup, the paint changeover and the survey scheduling are the same work either way.
After that come the spec choices. Forklift pockets, extra lashing rings, a heavier floor, a marine paint system, non-standard colors and production branding each add a known amount. So does the certification package if you want third-party survey rather than the standard classification-society record.
Timing is the last variable. Production capacity is booked roughly ten weeks out, so a slot inside that window is priced differently from one that has to displace booked work.
Production plans across the network in August ran about 94% 40HC and about 5% 20GP, with the balance in other types. That single fact explains most of what buyers notice about pricing. The 40HC is the volume product and it is quoted like one. The 20GP is a scheduled exception, which is why its range is proportionally higher against its material content and why its lead time is less flexible.
Ocean freight is the number that usually decides whether a factory order beats local stock. An empty container occupies a paid slot on a vessel, and someone pays for it. Two routes avoid that bill: buying a unit already positioned in your market, or running a first trip where the container carries paying cargo toward your destination.
Import duty, inland haulage from the discharge port and any local handling remain on your side in every case, and a quotation that does not say so is not a complete quotation.
The monthly market report publishes ranges collected from actual quotations that month, normalized to standard-spec new dry units, ex-works. Use it as a sanity check rather than a price list. A quotation well below the published range usually means a different specification, and it is worth asking which line item moved before assuming it is a better deal.