Sourcing aluminium hexagonal bars from China

UK duty on aluminium hexagonal bars

Read from the UK Trade Tariff on 21 October 2026, heading 7604 covers aluminium bars, rods and profiles. Solid hexagonal bars are the focus here. The supplied bars-and-rods lines carry 6% ordinary duty for goods from China. Extruded and cold-drawn alloy bars share the same line in this extract, so the table repeats that code for these purchasing variants.

The alloy bars-and-rods line lists a conditional 0% suspension, including aluminium-lithium bars. Its composition-based footnote is truncated, so do not claim relief from this extract alone. No import controls are listed. Anti-dumping fields are blank, but the published background identifies additional duty up to 35.1% for covered goods. A blank field does not establish exemption; ask your broker to check the producer, product scope and invoice declaration.

Confirm alloy status, composition and the imported condition through finding your commodity code. Cold drawing alone does not establish an anti-dumping exemption: the official notice says the goods can also be produced by other processes. For the wider heading, see aluminium round bars.

Across-flats size, temper and machining stock

Specify across-flats size rather than an ambiguous hexagon diameter. Put across-flats tolerance, corner condition, straightness, twist, cut length and end squareness on the drawing. State whether the stock is extruded or cold drawn, and whether sharp corners or rounded corners suit the intended machining operation.

Name the alloy and temper, request batch-linked mill certificates, and agree the surface condition and machining allowance. Approve a sample in the intended collet or fixture. Keep different alloys and tempers separately identified throughout packing and receipt.

Worked duty example

Illustrative example, not a quote: Illustrative batch of aluminium alloy hexagonal machining stock; ordinary duty only, with any anti-dumping duty to be checked separately under 7604 29 10 00, invoiced at £3,780 free on board, with £3,000 of freight and insurance to the UK. The customs value is £6,780. Duty at 6% is £406.80. Import VAT at 20% is charged on the customs value plus duty, £7,186.80, so it is £1,437.36. Import taxes total £1,844.16; a VAT-registered importer can usually reclaim the VAT, so the lasting cost is the £406.80 of duty. The import duty and VAT guide explains each step.

Inspection checklist

Dimensions: measure across opposing flats at different positions along sample bars; check corner shape, straightness, twist and cut length against the drawing.

Material: match bundle labels and mill certificates to the ordered alloy and temper; agree composition and mechanical-property testing where the application needs it.

Machining: trial the sample in the intended fixture and inspect the cut surface, tool behaviour and finished dimensions.

Packing: inspect for dents, scratches, burrs and bent ends; check separators, end protection and readable batch identification at dispatch and arrival. Arrange quality inspection against the agreed specification.

What goes wrong

A supplier interprets the stated size across corners rather than across flats, leaving insufficient machining stock. Rounded corners interfere with gripping, twist prevents consistent seating, or bent bars run poorly through a feeder. A sample may fit while production bars drift outside the agreed tolerance.

Mixed tempers or untraceable certificates make machining results inconsistent. Loose bundles damage corners during handling. On duty, treating a blank anti-dumping field or the words cold drawn as proof of exemption can leave the landed-cost calculation incomplete.

Cambridge China Bridge sources these products for UK businesses, checking the factory and the documents before shipment. See factory verification. For repeat volumes, see container programmes.