Sourcing canned lychee drinks from China

8% duty on canned lychee drinks without dairy

Read from the UK Trade Tariff on 4 November 2026, heading 2202 covers sweetened or flavoured waters and other non-alcoholic beverages, excluding juices of heading 2009. The relevant canned lychee drink lines without dairy all carry 8% duty for goods from China. No anti-dumping or countervailing duty is shown on these lines.

The suspension under 2202 99 19 19 is restricted to a flavoured drink containing 25% nata de coco by weight in 320 ml bottles. It does not cover canned lychee drinks. The tariff attaches an organic import control: products labelled organic need a certificate of inspection for organic release. The exporter’s control body issues that certificate in the country of export; confirm the documentation with your customs broker.

Confirm the recipe, added water, sugar type and absence of dairy before choosing a commodity code. These descriptions are classification candidates, not automatic codes for every lychee recipe. See the wider soft drinks guide for other drink families.

Specify the lychee recipe and can

Specify whether the drink uses lychee juice, purée, pulp or flavouring, and agree their proportions. Set sweetness, acidity, colour, aroma, carbonation and pulp texture against an approved sample. Record the complete recipe, can material and internal coating, opening tab, fill volume, carton packing and required remaining shelf life on arrival.

Ask Trading Standards to confirm whether the colours, sweeteners and preservatives are authorised for the intended use in Great Britain. Have the ingredients, allergen information and nutrition panel reviewed before printing. Ask HMRC to assess whether the finished recipe is liable for the Soft Drinks Industry Levy rather than relying on a supplier’s description. Soft drinks attract 20% import VAT.

Ask for heat-treatment records and shelf-life evidence for the actual lychee recipe in the proposed can. Agree checks for coating compatibility, corrosion, flavour changes and pulp settling. Review whether the factory can reproduce the approved sample before committing to printed cans.

Worked duty example

Illustrative example, not a quote: Illustrative order: 2,000 cases of 24 × 330 ml canned lychee drinks under 2202 99 19 19, invoiced at £16,000 free on board, with £2,500 of freight and insurance to the UK. The customs value is £18,500. Duty at 8% is £1,480. Import VAT at 20% is charged on the customs value plus duty, £19,980, so it is £3,996. Import taxes total £5,476; a VAT-registered importer can usually reclaim the VAT, so the lasting cost is the £1,480 of duty. The import duty and VAT guide explains each step.

Inspection checklist

Recipe: compare batch samples with the approved taste, aroma, colour and pulp texture; test sugar against the nutrition panel and levy assessment.

Can integrity: inspect seams, leaks, swelling, corrosion, dents near seams and opening tabs; compare fill levels with the agreed specification.

Labels: check ingredients, allergen emphasis, nutrition information, net quantity, importer details and readable date marking against the approved artwork.

Arrival condition: inspect wet or crushed cartons, damaged cans and batch markings; compare remaining shelf life with the purchase order. Use a quality inspection brief covering the drink and its packaging.

What goes wrong

A sample can taste strongly of lychee while production tastes mostly of added flavouring, or contains less pulp than agreed. Pulp settles unevenly, acidity changes the taste, and internal coating problems can produce corrosion or a metallic flavour. Leaking seams and crushed cartons can make otherwise acceptable stock unsaleable.

A recipe change can invalidate label artwork and the sugar levy assessment. Additives accepted in China may not be authorised in Great Britain. Freeze the recipe and artwork together, compare production samples with the approved sample, and hold questionable arrival stock pending investigation.

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.