Industrial sourcing · China to Europe

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Buyer guide · Material handling

Roller conveyor system from China

A roller conveyor is priced per metre, which makes quotes look easy to compare, but the price per metre hides the three choices that decide whether your cartons flow: roller pitch against your smallest item, how the rollers are driven, and whether products can queue without crushing each other.

Ask about this machine ↗Where the numbers come from

Written and listings checked 1 October 2026. Every figure on this page names its source.

What you are actually comparing.

Two quotes, one machine name

What hides inside the price

Gravity, line shaft or motorised roller

Gravity sections need a slope and a person or gravity to move goods. Belt or chain driven rollers push everything together. Motorised drive rollers power one short zone each and stop zone by zone, so goods queue without pressure.

Roller pitch and diameter

Your shortest item must rest on at least three rollers, or it tips and snags. Shorter pitch means more rollers per metre and a higher price, so check the pitch quoted against your smallest carton.

Accumulation logic

Zero-pressure zones with a sensor per zone keep cartons apart. Minimum-pressure lines let them touch. Ask how many zones and sensors the quote includes.

Curves, merges and diverts

Tapered rollers on curves keep cartons square. Merges and diverts need their own drives and controls, and they are where the cost and the jams concentrate.

Roller build

Galvanised, stainless or plastic sleeves, bearing type and shaft retention. Wet, cold or washdown areas need the right roller, not a painted one.

Before you ask for a price.

Send these with the enquiry. Without them, any number a factory gives you is a guess dressed as a quotation.

Every item you move: smallest and largest length, width, weight, and the base: flat carton, tote with ribs, bag or tray.
A layout with lengths, curves, merges, diverts and heights.
Items per hour, and where they must queue.
Environment: cold store, wet area, washdown or dust.
Which machines and scanners it must stop and start for.

Turn the claim into a demonstration.

Require this	A pass looks like
Run your smallest and your lightest items through a curve and a merge at rate.	No item tips, skews into the side guide or stalls between rollers.
Block the end of an accumulation section and keep feeding.	Items queue in their zones with gaps, and none is crushed or pushed off.
Reach into the drive area and press each emergency stop.	Drives and nip points are guarded, and every stop halts the line until reset.

The documents that must arrive with it.

EU Declaration of Conformity naming 2006/42/EC, or Regulation (EU) 2023/1230 from 20 January 2027, with 2014/35/EU and 2014/30/EU for powered sections.
Layout with roller pitch, diameter and load rating per section, and the zone and sensor plan.
Parts list with roller, bearing and drive roller types, so spares can be matched later.

The one people forget. The declaration of incorporation, when the conveyor links machines you already own. The finished line then needs its own conformity assessment, and somebody has to be named as its manufacturer.

When this is the wrong machine.

Buy something else if

Named, not hedged

You move bags, loose items or small parts that would fall between rollers.

A belt conveyor system, which gives a continuous surface.

You move loaded pallets.

A pallet conveyor, with heavier rollers, chain transfers and pallet stops.

Where the numbers come from.

We name the kind of source, how many and when, and never the factory. Listed prices are asking prices, not landed cost. Where we do not hold a fact we say so: that is a GAP, not an estimate.

Listings · 6Six roller conveyor listings on one marketplace, checked October 2026: flexible gravity and skate wheel sections asked US$68 to US$150 a metre, powered drum, synchronous belt and telescopic sections US$95 to US$288 a metre, and a small manual roller table US$800 to US$1,800 a set. Asking prices, not landed cost.
ArithmeticFor an item to cover three rollers at any position, pitch is at most its length divided by three. For a 300 mm carton, 300 / 3 = 100 mm, so 1,000 / 100 = 10 rollers a metre.
GAPGAP - no supplier quotations logged for this machine yet. Three to five quotations for one configuration would give a real price spread.

Related machines.

Belt conveyor system. Choose it for bags, small loose items and inclines.
Pallet conveyor. Choose it for full pallets and forklift loading points.

Every machine we source in this area is on the Material handling page. How a project runs, stage by stage, is on how it works, and what it costs is on pricing.

Straight answers

Questions buyers ask about this machine.

Chinese vs European roller conveyor system: where is the gap?+

In drive rollers, sensors and the controls that run the zones. Plain gravity sections are close in price everywhere; smart accumulation is not.

What goes on a roller conveyor inspection checklist?+

Pitch against your smallest item, roller run-out, zone sensors, guards at drives and transfers, stops, and a queue test with your items.

Which standard covers roller conveyors?+

EN 619 covers mechanical handling of unit loads. Ask whether the design follows it.

Who is the EU importer?+

The company placing the conveyor on the EU market, often the buyer. It checks the declaration and adds its name and address.

Contact

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