America's duty-free parcels grew almost tenfold in nine years
Low-value 'de minimis' shipments entering the US by fiscal year, millions — until the exemption ended in 2025.
De minimis shipments rose almost tenfold between FY2015 and FY2024.
That is how many duty-free parcels crossed the US border on average in FY2024.
CBP estimates parcels fell to this in calendar 2025, after duty-free entry ended for China in May and everyone in August.
the numbers
| Year | All de minimis shipments (m) | Of which by air (m) |
|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 139 | |
| 2018 | 411 | |
| 2020 | 637 | 539 |
| 2021 | 772 | 661 |
| 2022 | 685 | 543 |
| 2023 | 1,000 | 880 |
| 2024 | 1,360 |
source notes & method
Counts are Section 321 bills of lading (shipments), US federal fiscal years (Oct–Sep). FY2015 (~139m), FY2023 ('over one billion') and FY2024 ('over 1.36 billion') from CBP's Jan 2025 release; FY2020–FY2023 totals and air split from CBP's e-commerce page (https://www.cbp.gov/trade/basic-import-export/e-commerce). FY2018 (~411m) is CBP data quoted by Statista; consistent with USITC's '88% rise 2018–21'. FY2016–17 and FY2019 not published in a verifiable form, so omitted. 3.7m/day is derived (1.36bn / 366 days). 2025 figure is a calendar-year CBP estimate cited by CRS IF12891, not comparable fiscal-year basis. Duty-free de minimis treatment was suspended for China/Hong Kong in May 2025 and for all countries on 29 Aug 2025. Platform attribution (Temu/Shein) is interpretation, not in the CBP counts.
Published 21 Oct 2026
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