Sourcing speciality leather from China

Duty and species controls

Read from the UK Trade Tariff on 17 November 2026, heading 4113 covers leather further prepared after tanning or crusting, including parchment-dressed leather, without wool or hair, whether or not split. It covers goat, pig, reptile and other animal leather, excluding leather of heading 4114.

Goat and pig leather attract 0% duty; reptile and other animal leather attract 2%. The supplied tariff records no anti-dumping or countervailing duty. Pig leather has a 0.00 % autonomous suspension limited to pig grain nappa leather for shoe manufacture, excluding mixtures and multi-component products containing it. CITES import and export controls appear on every line; cat and dog fur and seal-product import controls also appear on the other-animal line.

CITES-listed specimens need import permission for Great Britain. Imports of cat and dog fur and products made from it are banned. Seal products can only be imported and sold in limited cases under strict conditions; ask your customs broker to confirm the applicable documents for any proposed Chinese shipment. Give the broker the species, processing stage and finish, then confirm the commodity code.

Specify species, usable area and finish

Name the animal species and ask the supplier to identify the tannery and skin origin. Describe the intended use, such as shoe uppers, gloves, linings or small leather goods. Specify grain or split leather, tanning method, thickness tolerance, softness, colour, surface coating and whether the grain is natural or embossed.

Agree how usable area will be measured and how holes, scars, weak edges and loose grain affect acceptance. Keep an approved cutting sample and colour reference. For reptile leather, define the required scale pattern and acceptable damage around folds. Ask for proposed colour-transfer, flexing and finish-adhesion checks suited to the intended use.

Worked duty example

Illustrative example, not a quote: Illustrative small batch of finished goat skins for a leather goods workshop under 4113 10 00 00, invoiced at £2,000 free on board, with £300 of freight and insurance to the UK. The customs value is £2,300. Duty at 0% is £0. Import VAT at 20% is charged on the customs value plus duty, £2,300, so it is £460. 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

Identity: compare species declarations, tannery details and batch references with the order and any applicable species documents.

Area and thickness: remeasure usable cutting area and thickness across the skins; record thin patches, holes and edge waste.

Colour and finish: compare batches with the approved sample; check dry and damp rubbing, coating adhesion and cracking when folded.

Condition: inspect for mould, damp packing, persistent odour, brittle patches and crushed or damaged reptile scales.

What goes wrong

A quoted skin area can include edges and defects that cannot be cut into the required panels. An attractive sample can also hide variation in thickness, softness or shade across production. Define acceptance around usable cutting yield and batch consistency, then arrange quality inspection against the retained sample.

Descriptions such as exotic leather or embossed leather do not establish the animal species. Treat missing species information as an unresolved purchasing issue. A convincing reptile pattern can be embossed onto another leather, while a low duty rate says nothing about whether species controls have been satisfied.

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.