Sourcing fresh kiwifruit from China

Fresh kiwifruit duty and import controls

Read from the UK Trade Tariff on 29 September 2026, heading 0810 covers other fresh fruit. Fresh kiwifruit falls under 0810 50 00 00, with 8% base duty for goods from China and a 0% autonomous suspension. The suspension excludes mixtures, preparations and products made up of different components containing kiwifruit. No anti-dumping or countervailing measure is recorded. The table shows buying formats under the same commodity line.

The tariff attaches HMI conformity, Certificate of Conformity, Unit price and organic import controls. Direct imports into Great Britain need a conformity certificate; notify the horticultural authority through the official import notification system. Organic consignments from China need an inspection certificate and checks against the non-UK organic registers. Ask your customs broker to confirm the Unit price measure, certificate declaration and any plant-health requirement before dispatch.

Confirm the suspension and commodity code for the actual goods before declaring them. For the dried product, see dried kiwifruit; this guide covers fresh fruit only.

Specify ripeness, firmness and carton grading

Specify cultivar, flesh colour, quality class, fruit weight range, carton count and net weight. Agree maturity tests, soluble solids, dry matter, firmness at loading and the ripeness expected on arrival. Set acceptance criteria for bruising, skin damage, misshapen fruit, decay and shrivelling. Record the orchard, packhouse and lot against the approved sample.

Kiwifruit is covered by the specific marketing standard, with quality and labelling requirements. Agree the cooling, loading and ripening arrangements with the packhouse and receiving warehouse. Request lot-specific pesticide residue results against UK crop limits, as described in the supplied fruit guides, and agree how samples will be drawn.

For organic purchases, check the exporter's control body and export country against the non-UK organic registers and obtain a Great Britain inspection certificate for each consignment. A supplier's organic logo alone is insufficient preparation.

Worked duty example

Illustrative example, not a quote: Illustrative order: 5 tonnes of fresh kiwifruit under 0810 50 00 00, invoiced at £20,000 free on board, with £1,800 of freight and insurance to the UK. The customs value is £21,800. Duty at 8% is £1,744. Import VAT at 20% is charged on the customs value plus duty, £23,544, so it is £4,708.80. Import taxes total £6,452.80; a VAT-registered importer can usually reclaim the VAT, so the lasting cost is the £1,744 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

Fruit: open cartons from different pallet positions; compare flesh colour, fruit weights, firmness and ripeness with the specification. Cut sample fruit to inspect internal bruising and breakdown.

Condition: record soft, shrivelled, mouldy, split or crushed fruit. Photograph defects and check whether the lower carton layers match the visible fruit.

Cold chain: compare loading and arrival temperature records with the agreed transport plan; inspect wet cartons, condensation and crushed trays. Use the quality inspection guide to brief the inspector.

Documents: match lot references across cartons, packing lists, test reports and conformity paperwork. Check quality class and full country-of-origin wording on labels; reconcile organic inspection documents where applicable.

What goes wrong

A firm sample can conceal a shipment with uneven maturity. Fruit may arrive too soft for onward distribution or remain hard with poor eating quality. Mixed sizes, bruising beneath intact skins and crushed lower cartons can escape a surface check. Agree inspection and arrival acceptance criteria before the packhouse selects the shipment.

Paperwork can fail independently of fruit quality. A generic laboratory report may not identify the shipment, labels may omit the quality class or origin, and organic documentation may not cover the consignment. Check the actual lot documents before loading and keep arrival photographs and samples linked to the same lot.

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.