Elastic cord and rubber thread from China

4% duty

Read from the UK Trade Tariff on 26 September 2026, rubber thread and cord covered with textile, and textile yarn and strip impregnated, coated, covered or sheathed with rubber or plastics, heading 5604, carried 4% on goods from China on all nine lines, with no anti-dumping measure and no suspension.

Flat woven or knitted elastic is a narrow fabric of heading 5806 rather than 5604, trims and braids are in our braids and trimmings guide, and plastic monofilament is in our synthetic monofilament guide; confirm the commodity code from the construction. For rubber bands, see our rubber band sourcing guide.

Rubber, latex and skin contact

Most elastic cord has a natural rubber core. For products worn against the skin, entry 50 of Annex XVII of UK REACH limits eight polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in rubber and plastic parts in direct and prolonged skin contact, so ask for test results on the cord you are buying. Users with latex allergy need to know, so state natural rubber on the label or offer a synthetic-core alternative.

Elastic sold on to consumers must be safe under the General Product Safety Regulations 2005; elastic used in toys or children's clothing must also meet the rules for those products.

Worked duty example

Suppose, purely for illustration, you import 5 tonnes of textile-covered elastic cord on spools under 5604 10 00 00. At £16,000 free on board and £1,200 to ship and insure, the customs value is £17,200. Elastic cord at 4% pay £688 of duty; VAT is then worked out on value plus duty, £17,888, giving £3,577.60. Of the £4,265.60 paid at import, only the £688 of duty stays a cost for a VAT-registered business. The method is set out in how UK import duty and VAT work.

Inspection checklist

Stretch and recovery: test elongation at a set load and recovery after repeated cycling by the method of BS EN 14704-3, or an equivalent agreed in the order, on cord from several spools, and compare with the approved sample.

Ageing and heat: expose samples to the heat, washing or UV conditions the end product will see, then retest recovery and check the covering for breaks, because natural rubber loses stretch as it ages.

Dimensions and put-up: measure cord diameter and the length on sampled spools or cards against the label, check colour against the card under daylight, and check joins per spool are within the number agreed.

What goes wrong

Elastic fails on recovery, ageing and length. Cord loses its snap after a few weeks or a wash, rubber cores perish and break inside the covering, the covering frays and exposes the rubber, spools come up short, and dark cord bleeds onto light fabric.

Test stretch and recovery on samples from several spools, age-test before a big order, measure spool lengths, and ask for PAH results for skin-contact uses. See our quality inspection guide.

Cambridge China Bridge sources elastic cord, shirring elastic and coated threads for garment makers, craft suppliers and packaging firms, from a first trial order to scheduled full containers; the factory's minimum per colour is stated in the quote. See small orders. For garment projects also requiring interlining, see our nonwoven fusible interlining sourcing guide.