Sourcing cast-coated label paper from China

Duty and the label-stock boundary

Heading 4810 covers paper coated with kaolin or other inorganic substances, with no other coating, supplied in rolls or rectangular sheets. This guide concerns unconverted cast-coated label stock. Confirm whether the offer is plain face paper, adhesive-coated stock or finished labels. For the wider product family, see coated art paper.

Read from the UK Trade Tariff on 1 October 2026, all supplied lines carried 0% duty for goods from China. The supplied records show no anti-dumping or countervailing duties, suspensions or attached import controls. This does not remove the timber due diligence obligation for virgin wood fibre.

The table gives candidate lines for low-mechanical-fibre stock. Confirm fibre composition, roll or sheet format, sheet dimensions, grammage, brightness and the exclusions in the line description. A cast-coated finish alone does not determine the code. Use finding your commodity code before declaring the shipment.

Specify the cast surface and label application

Agree the coated face, gloss and shade against a retained sample. Specify grammage, thickness, grain direction, moisture tolerance, reel width, core size, winding direction and splice identification, or sheet size and squareness. State the printing process and whether the reverse will receive wet glue or be converted into adhesive label stock.

For virgin wood fibre, confirm with the relevant authority what timber due diligence is needed before you first place the paper on the Great Britain market. Ask for species, country of harvest and supply-chain evidence. For mixed virgin and recycled paper, assess the virgin fibre.

Food-contact rules include materials expected to contact food or transfer constituents to it, including printing inks and adhesive labels. For food-packaging applications, ask for evidence covering the intended paper, ink, adhesive and use conditions. Treat a print or glue trial as a performance check, separate from that evidence.

Worked duty example

Illustrative example, not a quote: Illustrative order: 1 tonne of cast-coated label paper in reels under 4810 13 00 80, invoiced at £5,000 free on board, with £400 of freight and insurance to the UK. The customs value is £5,400. Duty at 0% is £0. Import VAT at 20% is charged on the customs value plus duty, £5,400, so it is £1,080. 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

Surface: compare gloss and shade with the approved sample; check for pinholes, scratches, coating streaks and scuffing.

Paper: measure grammage, thickness and moisture against the agreed tolerances; check curl, grain direction and sheet squareness.

Conversion: print with the intended ink and process; check drying, ink adhesion, coating pick and reverse-side glue acceptance on the intended container.

Delivery: inspect reel edges, cores, splices and wrapping; record dampness, crushed sheets and lot identity before releasing stock.

What goes wrong

A glossy sample can conceal weak coating strength or poor ink drying. Moisture imbalance can cause curl and feeding problems. An unsuitable reverse surface can give uneven glue coverage or lifting label edges. Dry-use stock can also disappoint when buyers expect resistance to condensation.

Approve a production-representative print and application trial, including the actual container and expected storage conditions. Keep the accepted sample and lot records so that shade shifts, coating damage or glue failures can be traced to the delivered batch.

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.