How much to import a CNC router from China?

Duty and VAT: what the tariff shows for a CNC router

Read from the UK Trade Tariff on 9 October 2026, the three codes a CNC router can land under all carried 2% third-country duty on goods from China: 8465 20 00 00 for machining centres, 8465 92 00 00 for planing, milling or moulding machines and 8465 99 00 00 for other heading 8465 machines. None showed an anti-dumping duty on China, and import VAT is the 20% standard rate. For 8465 20 and 8465 92 the tariff also asks for the quantity as a number of items, so the declaration needs a unit count as well as a weight.

Which code applies is a classification judgement on the finished machine. A router with an automatic tool changer may be a machining centre; a single-spindle router is usually a milling or moulding machine. Both are 2% today, so the choice changes the paperwork, not the duty. Ask your customs agent to confirm it from the specification before entry; see finding your commodity code. A machine built mainly for metal belongs in the CNC machining centres guide or the drilling and milling guide; the wider category is in woodworking machines. For sheet-metal punching, see our guide to sourcing CNC turret punch presses. For tube forming, see our guide to sourcing CNC tube bending machines.

Worked example: a router landed in a UK workshop

Illustrative example, not a quote: one single-spindle router under 8465 92 00 00, bought ex works for £11,500, with £450 for the haul to the Chinese port and export formalities and £1,850 for sea freight and insurance to the UK. HMRC requires inland transport and associated costs in the country of export to be included, so the customs value is £13,800. Duty at 2% is £276. Import VAT at 20% is charged on £14,076, so it is £2,815.20, and import taxes total £3,091.20. A VAT-registered buyer can usually reclaim the VAT, so the lasting tax cost is the £276 of duty.

Charges after the UK border, such as haulage to your workshop, can be deducted from the customs value when they are invoiced separately and can be distinguished, so ask for them on their own lines. The import duty and VAT guide explains each step, and the customs value builder does the sum.

What moves the real cost: the crate, not the duty

A packed router is a large, heavy crate. In one quote we reviewed, a router with a tool changer and a rotary axis packed at about 2.75 × 2.25 × 2.15 m, around 13.3 m³ and 900 kg; the project note shows what we checked. At that size the rate per cubic metre, the choice between shared and 20ft container space and the UK destination charges outweigh the duty, so compare complete door-to-door quotes rather than the sea line alone.

Read a CIF quote line by line: a very low ocean line can leave the UK end to be paid on arrival; see cheap CIF quotes. Plan the unloading as well: the crate against your door and yard, a forklift or crane at your end and a supply of the right voltage and phase.

Who is the responsible person when you import the machine

Under the Supply of Machinery (Safety) Regulations 2008, the responsible person is the manufacturer or its authorised representative. That person must make sure the machine is safe, the technical file exists and can be produced on request, the operating information is supplied, a declaration of conformity accompanies the machine and the conformity marking is applied. The government's guidance defines the manufacturer as the person who makes the machine for the GB market under their own name or trademark or for their own use in the UK and, where there is no such person, the person who places it on the GB market.

In practice, the name on the declaration should be the factory that built your machine, not a trading company or reseller. If you sell the machine under your own name, or modify it in a way that affects compliance, you take on the manufacturer's duties as importer. An authorised representative for the GB market must be established in the UK. Both UKCA and CE markings are accepted for Great Britain: the declaration is a UK declaration of conformity if the machine is UKCA marked and an EU declaration if it is CE marked.

Ask for the declaration for your exact configuration, not a generic CE certificate, with the English manual, the electrical schematic and the nameplate and serial details. As importer you retain the technical documentation and must make sure transport and storage do not compromise the machine's compliance.

Choose the router by the job, not the bed size

Start from the work: the sheet or block size and thickness you cut most, the material (sheet panels, solid timber, acrylic and other plastics, foam or light composites), the smallest part you will cut and how many different tools one part needs. Those four answers set the bed, the vacuum table and the spindle.

Then decide four things: a vacuum table and pump sized for your smallest parts; spindle power and cooling for your longest continuous run; an automatic tool changer only if a part needs several tools in one program, since a changer adds a mechanism that can jam and may move the machine into the machining-centre code; and a controller with English menus and post-processor files that match the CAM software you already use. Name the spindle, controller and drive makers in the contract, because these are the parts most often substituted after the price is agreed.

Prove it with your own test cut before it ships

Send the factory your own file and material and ask for a recorded cut of a nested sheet that includes your smallest parts, a square and a slot. Measure both diagonals of the square and the parts against the drawing. Agree the tolerance in writing before the test, not after.

Then run the machine as you will use it: every axis including any rotary axis, the spindle at working speed for the agreed run time, the tool changer through repeated cycles, the limit switches and emergency stops, and the vacuum holding your smallest part. Check the nameplate and serial number against the declaration, and the accessories and spares against the packing list. Inspection and factory checks are normally included in our quote; anything complex enough to need a third party is charged separately, agreed in advance. See quality inspection and factory verification.

China's export rules, installation and what goes wrong

China's customs rules for machine tools from 30 June 2026 ask exporters for fuller declarations, which can add time; see China's export rules for machine tools. Agree installation, commissioning and training in writing before ordering; see installing and commissioning Chinese machinery in the UK. Electrical equipment should be built to BS EN 60204-1, the machine must meet the Electromagnetic Compatibility Regulations 2016, the employer must meet the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 once it is installed, and wood dust needs extraction under the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations 2002.

The usual failures are substituted components, controllers with Chinese-only menus, a tool changer that jams in continuous running, a vacuum table that will not hold small parts, wiring for the wrong supply and a declaration that does not match the machine delivered.

If you already have a quote for a CNC router, we can check it before you pay. For the whole purchase, from the quote to UK customs, see our machinery and equipment service; for UK manufacturers buying to drawing, see our service for manufacturers, or send a procurement brief.