Copper and brass fasteners from China

Zero duty on copper alloy fasteners

Read from the UK Trade Tariff on 26 September 2026, nails, tacks, drawing pins, staples and similar articles, washers including spring washers, rivets, cotters and other non-threaded articles, and screws, bolts and nuts of copper or copper alloys carried 0% duty on goods from China, with no anti-dumping measure.

Brass or bronze screws with a steel core, or plated steel that only looks like brass, are steel fasteners of heading 7318, with their own rates. Confirm the commodity code from the material. Our nails guide and rivets guide cover steel and garment fixings.

Alloys and where they are used

Copper nails are used for slate roofing and tree work, silicon bronze screws for boatbuilding and oak joinery, and brass screws and nuts for electrical terminals and decorative hardware. State the alloy by its European designation, such as CW004A copper or CW614N free-machining brass, or by the maker's grade with a composition limit, and the thread, head and drive standard.

Fasteners in contact with drinking water or in marine use should be dezincification-resistant brass, such as CW602N, and tested for resistance to dezincification by ISO 6509-1. Brass contains lead unless a lead-free alloy is ordered, which matters for products under UK REACH restrictions on lead in consumer articles; ask for a declaration against the restriction for anything children may handle.

Worked duty example

For a made-up shipment of 2 tonnes of brass machine screws and nuts under 7415 33 00 00, add the £900 of freight and insurance to the £22,000 free-on-board price and customs sees £22,900. Duty on copper alloy screws and nuts is zero, leaving import VAT of £4,580, 20% of the customs value. For a VAT-registered buyer that is a cash-flow cost rather than a lasting one. Steel screws and bolts are classified in heading 7318 at their own rates, which is one reason to confirm the material on the certificate. The duty and VAT guide walks through the calculation.

What goes wrong

Copper alloy fasteners fail on alloy substitution. High-zinc or heavily leaded brass is supplied instead of the grade ordered, so screws crack when driven, dezincify in water or tarnish quickly; bronze screws turn out to be brass; copper nails are copper-plated steel that rusts under the slate. Threads are cut to the wrong standard, and heads snap because the material is too hard.

Check each lot with a handheld XRF analyser against the ordered alloy, cut a sample to check plated goods are solid, run dezincification tests to ISO 6509-1 on DZR brass, check threads with go and no-go gauges, drive sample screws into the intended material to check for head snap, and count and weigh cartons against the packing list.

Cambridge China Bridge sources copper, brass and bronze nails, screws, bolts, nuts and washers for roofers, boatbuilders, electrical and hardware distributors, with alloy checks before shipment. See our second-supplier service.