Sourcing fresh potatoes from China

Tariff rates do not establish import permission

Read from the UK Trade Tariff on 17 November 2026, heading 0701 covers fresh or chilled potatoes. Seed potatoes and potatoes for starch manufacture carry 4%; new potatoes from January to June carry 8%; the remaining lines carry 10%. The supplied tariff record lists no anti-dumping or countervailing duty and no suspensions.

Defra's plant health risk table excludes China from the permitted origins for ware potatoes. Chinese fresh or chilled ware potatoes therefore cannot enter Great Britain as ordinary commercial imports, including potatoes intended for starch manufacture. Treat the table and illustrative order as classification and arithmetic information. Confirm seed potato restrictions separately before considering a planting order.

Every supplied line attaches an organic import control. For organic food from China entering Great Britain, official guidance requires a certificate of inspection for each consignment; this does not establish permission for prohibited potatoes. Confirm the control with your customs broker and use the commodity code guide. For a different product format, see our frozen vegetables guide.

Specify the destination and potato use first

For a Great Britain ware potato enquiry, resolve the origin prohibition before asking a supplier to pack or ship. For an overseas destination, ask the buyer's local broker to confirm admissibility before agreeing the order.

For an admissible destination, specify variety, intended cooking or starch use, size grading, skin condition, washed or unwashed presentation, pack weight, ventilation and storage conditions. Agree acceptable greening, sprouting, bruising and rot in writing. Match the packing sample to the actual harvest lot.

Worked duty example

Illustrative example, not a quote: Illustrative arithmetic only: 20 tonnes of ware potatoes; not a permissible China-to-Great-Britain shipment under 0701 90 90 90, invoiced at £18,000 free on board, with £3,500 of freight and insurance to the UK. The customs value is £21,500. Duty at 10% is £2,150. Import VAT at 20% is charged on the customs value plus duty, £23,650, so it is £4,730. Import taxes total £6,880; a VAT-registered importer can usually reclaim the VAT, so the lasting cost is the £2,150 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

Identity: check variety, declared origin, harvest lot and intended use against the order and supplier records.

Condition: cut sample tubers to check internal bruising and decay; inspect skins for greening, sprouting, damage and soft rot.

Packing: check net weight, ventilation, wet packaging and compression damage against the agreed specification.

Records: match pack lot marks to grower and packing records; use the inspection guide to agree how findings are recorded.

What goes wrong

The first failure is treating a commodity code and duty rate as permission to import Chinese ware potatoes into Great Britain. An organic certificate does not answer the separate origin restriction. Resolve that issue before paying for packing or freight.

For admissible overseas orders, mixed varieties can cook unevenly, bruising can remain hidden beneath sound skins, and damp packaging can conceal deteriorating tubers. Inspect cut samples as well as the surface and compare the shipment with the agreed packing sample.

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.