Sourcing brined olives from China

Zero duty on processing olives

Read from the UK Trade Tariff on 13 November 2026, heading 0711 covers vegetables provisionally preserved but unsuitable in that state for immediate consumption. For olives, distinguish uses other than oil production from the other olive line. The table shows product forms sharing these codes. Ready-to-eat preserved olives fall outside this heading; confirm the actual preservation process and condition.

Both olive codes carry 0% duty for goods from China, with no anti-dumping or countervailing duty and no listed suspension. Both carry the organic import control. For organic consignments from China into Great Britain, obtain a Great Britain certificate of inspection for each consignment. A business trading in organic products must be certified by an approved UK organic control body. Confirm exporter eligibility with that body before ordering.

Give your broker the ingredients, preservation method, processing still needed and intended use to confirm the commodity code. Our brined vegetables guide covers the wider heading.

Specify olives for your processing line

Specify variety, green or black colour, size grade, whole or pitted form, firmness and acceptable skin damage. For pitted olives, agree checks for remaining stones and fragments. State the intended desalting, curing or other processing, and approve a sample after that process rather than judging the packing brine alone.

Agree brine salt content, acidity, any preservatives, drained weight and storage conditions with the receiving processor. Obtain sulphite results where used, and confirm sulphur dioxide and sulphite allergen-declaration requirements with the relevant food authority. Confirm the applicable pesticide residue limits with that authority. Drums and liners are subject to UK food-contact controls; request suitability documentation for the specified brine.

Worked duty example

Illustrative example, not a quote: Illustrative order: 2,500 kg of pitted brined olives for further food processing under 0711 20 10 00, invoiced at £9,000 free on board, with £2,500 of freight and insurance to the UK. The customs value is £11,500. Duty at 0% is £0. Import VAT at 20% is charged on the customs value plus duty, £11,500, so it is £2,300. 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. This assumes the goods are standard-rated for VAT. Most food for human consumption is zero-rated, and animal feed can be too, in which case no import VAT is due, so check the rate for your product in HMRC's VAT Notice 701/14.

Inspection checklist

Olive condition: check colour, size, firmness, skin damage and foreign matter against the approved sample; examine pitted product for stones and fragments.

Brine and residues: measure salt content and acidity against the specification, and match preservative, pesticide and contaminant reports to the shipped lot.

Drained weight: drain sampled olives using the agreed method and compare the recovered weight with the declared quantity.

Drums and records: check seals, liners, leaks and brine coverage; match product descriptions and lot codes to the packing records. Plan the checks with our inspection guide.

What goes wrong

A sample can look acceptable yet become too soft after desalting. Uneven grades disrupt filling, pitting leaves stone fragments, and excess brine hides a drained-weight shortage. Leaking drums expose the top layer, allowing drying, discolouration or spoilage. Test the sample through your intended process and record the agreed acceptance criteria.

Buying ready-to-eat olives against a processing-olive declaration creates a classification mismatch. An organic claim also needs its own import paperwork. Resolve the product condition, code and organic status before loading, and keep questionable drums separate while the processor assesses them.

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.