Pricing Guide: China Injection Molding Cost

“How much does the China injection molding cost to make my product?”;  “Is there any way to lower the mold cost in China?”. These are the most common questions we hear from our customers, especially start-ups. It’s quite understandable that the injection molding cost of a new plastic part is critical and sensitive, particularly when your budget is tight for a new design.

There are many factors that can affect the cost on making an mold and running molding production. Here we show you three examples how the various pricing might have. Please note that the price can vary depending on your parts size, weight and complexity.

injection moulding cost- ABS/PC Molded sample
Tooling Cost: US$ 1,000
Piece Price US$ 0.45

Batch order: 5,000 pieces
Dimension: 46 mm x 16mm x 8mm
Material: ABS/PC
Weight: 2.5 grams

injection molding cost - PP Molded sample
Tooling Cost: US$ 3,500
Piece Price US$ 0.39

Batch order: 100,000 pieces
Dimension: 114 mm x 75mm x 32mm
Material: Hypro PP-CP
Weight: 40.2 grams

Plastic injection molding cost - LCP Example
Tooling Cost: US$ 11,000
Piece Price US$ 4. 20

Batch order: 5,000 pieces
Dimension: 110 mm x 65 mm x 60mm
Material: LCP-Vectra S135
Weight: 75.8 grams

What affects China Injection Molding Cost?

If your molds remain with Plastopia for production, it’s simple, just 5 factors to consider:

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1. Molding Materials

The plastic molding material you selected will affect both tooling cost and piece pricing, which varies from different types of materials.

Material Cost Comparison

LCP
PA
PC
PP
ABS
plastic injection molding material selection
Plastic part colors

2. Part Colors

The part color is the factor that designers and product engineers will neglect, as they assume piece pricing of all colors is the same.

However, if your part is white or transparent, the molding price will be higher than other regular colors. A cleaner molding condition adds cost for molding factories.

3. Part Complexity

Complexity plays a vital role in molding costs. It adds extra works to mold making and more steps on molding production. Tolerance requirements, fine detailing, or the number of undercuts are the main reasons.

To re-design your part as a simplified version is the best solution to lower your molding cost.

injection molding undercuts

Injection Mold life

4. Mold Life

Mold life affects mainly the tooling cost. Prototype molds use regular steels such as P20 or 718H. For production molds at higher volume, hardened steel would be required, like NAK 80 or H13.

Mold Life Comparison 

H13
NAK 80
718H
P20

5. Surface Finish

Mirror polishing adds cost to injection molding, which requires hardened steels (NAK 80 Steel) to create the molds and cleaner injection molding condition. Also, a higher texturing requirement is another reason to cost increases.

Mirror polish add injection molding cost

Contact us to get a quote today!