Branded paper coffee cups from China

The cheapest way for a few cafés

For two or three cafés the saving comes from buying printed cups direct from the factory that makes them, rather than from a UK distributor that buys the same cups in China and adds its margin and its own minimum for bespoke print. Factory minimums apply per cup size and design, so keep to one or two sizes and one artwork across the sites, share one lid size across cups, and order cups, lids and sleeves on one shipment so freight is spread across everything.

Cambridge China Bridge sourced custom-printed cups and merchandise for a multi-site Cambridge café chain that was facing expensive UK packaging, high minimum orders and long lead times for bespoke work. The result was a 50% cost saving and noticeably better branding across all its sites. We have no minimum of our own; factory minimums are set by the cup maker and we tell you them before you commit. See our service for smaller orders.

0% on cups, 6% on lids

Read from the UK Trade Tariff on 26 September 2026, cups, trays, dishes and plates of paper or paperboard, and those of bamboo fibre paper, carried 0% duty on goods from China, while plastic lids, as stoppers, lids and caps of plastics, carried 6%, with no anti-dumping measure on either. Paper carriers and sleeves that are packing containers enter at 0%.

Import VAT at 20% applies to both. Confirm the commodity code for each item, because a cup, its lid and its sleeve are declared on separate lines.

Bans, packaging rules and food contact

In England the Environmental Protection (Plastic Plates etc. and Polystyrene Containers etc.) (England) Regulations 2023 ban the supply of single-use expanded and extruded polystyrene cups and food containers and single-use plastic cutlery, so choose paper cups and avoid polystyrene lids and cups entirely. Paper cups with a thin plastic lining are not banned, and because they are mainly paper by weight they are generally outside Plastic Packaging Tax, while the lids are plastic.

Cups and lids are packaging, so a business above the thresholds in the Producer Responsibility Obligations (Packaging and Packaging Waste) Regulations 2024 must report them; see our packaging EPR guide. The plastic lining and lids must meet retained Regulation 10/2011 on plastic food contact materials, so ask the cup maker for a declaration of compliance and migration tests; see our food contact guide.

Worked duty example

Suppose, purely for illustration, you import 50,000 printed double-wall paper cups under 4823 69 90 00. At £4,000 free on board and £1,200 to ship and insure, the customs value is £5,200. With 0% duty on paper cups, the only charge is import VAT: 20% of £5,200, or £1,040. VAT-registered businesses usually recover that in their next return. Plastic lids under 3923 50 90 00 are a separate line at 6%, so £1,000 of lids including their freight and insurance would pay £60 of duty before VAT. The method is set out in how UK import duty and VAT work.

What goes wrong

Cups fail at the lid, the seam and the print. Lids made for a slightly different rim diameter pop off or leak, side seams open with hot liquid, single-wall cups are too hot to hold without a sleeve, and brand colours print differently from the proof because the board and coating change the result. Cups crush in transit when cartons are underfilled, and a plastic-free claim is printed on a cup that still has a plastic lining.

Before the first order, get printed samples of the exact cup and lid, fill them with near-boiling water and turn them on their side to check lid fit and seams, hold them for heat, and compare the print with the approved colour proof. At inspection, check rim diameter against the lid, print registration and colour, cup counts per sleeve and carton, and carton strength, and check that any plastic-free or compostable claim is backed by the coating specification.

Cambridge China Bridge sources printed cups, lids, sleeves and branded café merchandise for independent cafés and small chains, with samples first and then a small order. See how we handle small orders.