Sourcing cashmere and animal hair from China

0% duty

Read from the UK Trade Tariff on 26 September 2026, fine animal hair of Kashmir goats, angora rabbits, alpaca, camel, yak and other animals, and coarse animal hair, not carded or combed, carried 0% duty on goods from China, with no anti-dumping measure. The lines carry a veterinary control, so animal by-product import conditions apply. Carded or combed hair and tops are in heading 5105, and yarn in later headings, so the processing stage decides the commodity code. For woven fabric sourcing, see our worsted wool fabrics guide.

The Import Information Notes spell out the difference. Wool and hair that has been factory washed, or treated by one of the listed methods such as industrial scouring at 60 to 70°C or the set storage periods, counts as treated: it can come from any country, needs no health certificate and has no veterinary check, but must travel with a commercial document giving the consignor, consignee, country of origin, quantity, species and the treatment used (IIN ABP/23B). Untreated greasy wool and hair has separate conditions in IIN ABP/23A, so ask the supplier which treatment the lot has had and put it on the commercial document.

Veterinary rules and fibre names

Unwashed or untreated animal hair is an animal by-product, and the tariff applies a veterinary control to these lines, so check the current import conditions with APHA, including whether the hair must be factory-washed or otherwise treated, the commercial document or certificate required and the pre-notification in IPAFFS, before the first shipment.

When the fibre reaches garments, the textile labelling rules from Regulation 1007/2011 fix fibre names such as cashmere, camel, yak and angora, and composition must be stated by percentage, so a blend sold as pure cashmere is a labelling offence. See the scarves and shawls guide and the knitted scarves guide.

Worked duty example

For a made-up shipment of 2 tonnes of dehaired cashmere fibre under 5102 11 00 00, add the £3,000 of freight and insurance to the £180,000 free-on-board price and customs sees £183,000. Duty on cashmere fibre is zero, leaving import VAT of £36,600, 20% of the customs value. For a VAT-registered buyer that is a cash-flow cost rather than a lasting one. Fine animal hair is high in value for its weight, so it often travels by air. The duty and VAT guide walks through the calculation.

Inspection checklist

Fineness: mean fibre diameter and its coefficient of variation measured on core samples from each lot by the projection microscope method of ISO 137 or an IWTO instrument method, compared with the contracted micron, with length measured on a combed sample.

Purity: fibre composition checked by microscopy to the ISO 17751 series to separate cashmere from yak, wool and other speciality fibres, residual guard hair and vegetable matter counted, colour measured against the approved standard, and a retained sample kept for DNA testing if a dispute arises.

Commercial weight: moisture regain and clean content measured so the invoice is settled on conditioned weight by the method of ISO 6741-1, bale weights and marks checked against the packing list, and bales inspected for damp or damaged wrapping before loading.

What goes wrong

Speciality fibre fails on fineness, purity and paperwork. Cashmere lots test coarser than contracted, contain guard hair because dehairing was poor, or are blended with yak, sheep's wool or dyed fibre that looks the same to the eye. Colour and length vary between bales, moisture regain is high so the buyer pays for water, and shipments are held because the veterinary paperwork was not arranged.

Measure mean fibre diameter and its variation by laser or projection microscope on samples from each lot, count residual guard hair, test for blending by scanning electron microscopy or DNA testing, check length and colour against the contract, test moisture regain and invoice on conditioned weight, and confirm the veterinary import conditions before shipping.

Cambridge China Bridge sources cashmere, yak, camel and other speciality animal fibre for spinners and brands, with fineness and blend tests agreed before shipment. See how we source speciality fibre.