Sourcing beverage flavour concentrates from China

Duty on beverage flavour concentrates

Read from the UK Trade Tariff on 6 November 2026, the beverage lines of heading 3302 carry 0% duty for goods from China, with no anti-dumping or countervailing measures and no listed suspensions. This heading covers industrial flavour mixtures and beverage preparations based on odoriferous substances. See the wider fragrance and flavour mixtures guide.

The tariff attaches veterinary control to these beverage lines. Establish whether the formula contains animal-derived ingredients and ask your customs broker to confirm the applicable requirement for goods from China before shipping. For composite products containing milk, eggs, meat or fish, ask APHA or your broker to confirm the applicable risk category and health certificate requirements for the Chinese product. The listed mercury measure is an export control; ask the broker to confirm its relevance to the goods.

Give the broker the full composition, intended beverage use, alcohol content and amounts of milkfat, sucrose, isoglucose, glucose and starch. These distinguish the drink-industry subheadings. Confirm the classification through finding your commodity code, rather than accepting a supplier's generic flavouring code.

Specify the concentrate in your finished drink

Specify the flavour profile, carrier, solubility, colour, concentration and intended dosing in your actual drink base. State whether the drink is carbonated, acidic or heat-treated. Agree tests for separation, sediment, haze and flavour retention after processing and storage, using a retained approved sample.

Confirm with the relevant food authority whether the substances and preparations in the formula are permitted for the intended use. All flavourings and every constituent of a blend must be safe under general food law. Obtain the full ingredient and allergen information, ingredient origins, food-grade production information, specification and batch certificate of analysis. Agree storage conditions and a procedure for approving formula changes.

Worked duty example

Illustrative example, not a quote: Illustrative order: 2 tonnes of beverage flavour concentrate in 25 kg drums under 3302 10 21 00, invoiced at £28,000 free on board, with £1,600 of freight and insurance to the UK. The customs value is £29,600. Duty at 0% is £0. Import VAT at 20% is charged on the customs value plus duty, £29,600, so it is £5,920. With no duty, the only import tax is the VAT, which a VAT-registered importer can usually reclaim. The import duty and VAT guide explains each step.

Inspection checklist

Identity: match the product name, formula revision and batch identifiers on drums, specification and certificate of analysis.

Drink trial: compare flavour, colour and clarity with the retained sample at the agreed dilution in your beverage base, including after your processing step.

Batch results: compare agreed density, acidity and microbiological results with the specification; investigate missing results or unexplained changes.

Packaging: check seals, leaks, contamination, drum condition and recorded storage conditions before releasing the concentrate to production.

What goes wrong

A concentrate can smell right in the drum but taste different after dilution, heating or carbonation. Carrier changes can cause haze or separation. Approve the sample in the finished drink and require approval before substitutions.

Generic certificates can describe a different formula or batch, while incomplete origin information leaves veterinary checks unresolved. Hold affected stock for investigation instead of blending it into production.

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.