Sourcing fresh garlic scapes from China

Confirm the scapes code before costing duty

Read from the UK Trade Tariff on 1 October 2026, heading 0703 covers fresh or chilled onions, shallots, garlic, leeks and other alliaceous vegetables. The supplied data does not explicitly name garlic scapes. Its other alliaceous vegetables line, 0703 90 00 00, carries 10% duty for Chinese goods, with no listed anti-dumping or countervailing duty or suspension. The table shows packing formats sharing this candidate line, rather than separate tariff subdivisions.

The tariff attaches an organic import control. For organic scapes from China entering Great Britain, obtain a certificate of inspection for each consignment and check the exporter’s control body and country against the non-UK organic registers. Your importing business must be certified by an approved UK organic control body. Confirm the paperwork with your control body before dispatch.

Send your broker the botanical identity, photographs, harvested plant part and preparation details, then confirm the commodity code before ordering. The garlic line carries 8% plus £100 per 100 kg, so classification matters. See the wider garlic and onions guide. This guide concerns imports into Great Britain; confirm the destination’s requirements for other markets.

Specify tender stems and the trimming

Describe the product as garlic flower stems and buds for cooking. Agree variety, stem length and thickness bands, straightness or acceptable curl, whether buds remain attached, and how much fibrous base is removed. Approve a sample for tenderness after cooking. State acceptable yellowing, broken stems and surface damage in the purchase specification.

Agree bunching, pack weight, ventilation, pre-cooling, transport temperature and the required usable life on arrival. Ask the packer to identify the growing source and shipped lot. Pesticide residues must meet GB maximum residue levels; request a report covering that lot and the relevant edible plant part.

Register a new food business with the local authority before operations start. Confirm the plant health risk category before shipment: high and medium risk categories require a phytosanitary certificate. Do not assume the absence of a phytosanitary measure in the supplied tariff extract settles the plant health requirements.

Worked duty example

Illustrative example, not a quote: Illustrative only: 100 kg of chilled whole garlic scapes, assuming this code is confirmed under 0703 90 00 00, invoiced at £1,720 free on board, with £1,350 of freight and insurance to the UK. The customs value is £3,070. Duty at 10% is £307. Import VAT at 20% is charged on the customs value plus duty, £3,377, so it is £675.40. Import taxes total £982.40; a VAT-registered importer can usually reclaim the VAT, so the lasting cost is the £307 of duty. 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

Tenderness: cut and cook samples from different cartons; compare fibrous bases, stem texture and bud maturity with the approved sample.

Condition: check for yellowing, limp stems, splits, bruising, slime, mould and foreign matter; photograph defects against the agreed specification.

Cold chain and packing: check arrival condition and temperature records, ventilation, condensation, bunch security and actual net weight.

Lot and documents: match carton identification to the packing list and residue report; check any required plant health documents and organic inspection certificate. Use the quality inspection guide to define the inspection brief.

What goes wrong

A green stem can still be woody. Late harvesting or insufficient base trimming produces scapes that look acceptable but disappoint after cooking. A photograph cannot demonstrate tenderness, so approve cooked samples and repeat the check on the shipped lot.

Warm handling causes wilting, while wet packing encourages deterioration. Vague descriptions such as garlic shoots also leave the harvested plant part unclear for classification. Set the trimming and cold-chain instructions in writing, and resolve the code and import paperwork before loading.

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.