Sourcing dried bay leaves from China

Duty and organic import controls

Read from the UK Trade Tariff on 30 September 2026, dried bay leaves fall within heading 0910, under 0910 99 50 00. The supplied tariff record gives 0% duty for goods from China, with no anti-dumping or countervailing measure and no suspension. The table shows purchasing formats sharing the bay-leaf line, rather than separate tariff subdivisions.

The tariff attaches an import control for organic products. For Chinese organic leaves entering Great Britain, confirm the inspection certificate requirements with your customs broker and arrange any required certificate with the exporter’s control body in the country of export. Ask your customs broker to confirm the documentary requirements before shipment.

Confirm the commodity code against the exact product, especially a blend containing other ingredients. See the wider spices guide. Confirm the exact product’s VAT treatment with HMRC or your customs broker, using the duty and VAT guide to prepare your questions.

Specify leaf identity, breakage and aroma

Write the botanical identity into the purchase specification rather than accepting only the name ‘bay leaf’. Agree whole leaves, cut leaves or powder; acceptable leaf colour and aroma; stem and foreign matter limits; moisture; and permitted breakage. Keep an approved sample for comparison with production and arrival samples.

Agree the drying and any treatment process, batch identification, lined bags and protection against crushing. Ask for batch-specific pesticide residue and microbiological reports. Confirm applicable GB pesticide residue limits, food business registration and traceability requirements with the relevant food authority. For retail packs, ask that authority to confirm the required name, net weight, best-before date, storage information, business address and language before approving labels.

Worked duty example

Illustrative example, not a quote: Illustrative pallet shipment of bulk dried bay leaves; values are illustrative, not a quotation under 0910 99 50 00, invoiced at £2,000 free on board, with £2,000 of freight and insurance to the UK. The customs value is £4,000. Duty at 0% is £0. Import VAT at 20% is charged on the customs value plus duty, £4,000, so it is £800. 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. This assumes the goods are standard-rated for VAT. Most food for human consumption is zero-rated, and animal feed can be too, in which case no import VAT is due, so check the rate for your product in HMRC's VAT Notice 701/14.

Inspection checklist

Identity: compare leaves with the approved sample and botanical specification; investigate mixed leaf shapes, unexpected stems or an unfamiliar aroma.

Condition: check moisture, discolouration, mould, insects, dust and broken leaves against the agreed specification.

Batch evidence: match bag and carton batch identifiers to the laboratory reports; check that the reports cover the supplied leaves.

Packing: check liners, seals, bag weights and crushed cartons; retain a sample from each lot. Use the inspection guide to define the checks.

What goes wrong

A sample of intact leaves can conceal a bulk shipment with excessive fragments, stems or dust. Agree how breakage will be assessed before approving production. Compare aroma as well as appearance, and inspect bags from across the shipment.

Damp leaves or damaged liners can lead to mould and insect problems during storage. Visual checks cannot establish pesticide residue compliance. Obtain the batch reports before shipment, then check the arriving lot against those records. Set aside wet, musty or mismatched bags for 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.