Sourcing fresh sugar snap peas from China

Fresh sugar snap peas: 8% duty

Read from the UK Trade Tariff on 29 September 2026, heading 0708 covers fresh or chilled leguminous vegetables, shelled or unshelled. Fresh sugar snap peas fall under the peas line, 0708 10 00 00, at 8% for goods from China. The listed pack formats share this commodity line. Other lines in the heading carry 10%. No anti-dumping or countervailing duty or suspension is recorded for the peas line.

Ask APHA or your customs broker to confirm whether fresh edible pea pods from China fall within Defra's residual medium risk B category. For medium risk B goods, a phytosanitary certificate is required for Great Britain; plant-health pre-notification is not required for that category. The tariff also attaches an organic import control. The organic certificate of inspection is issued by the exporter's control body in the country of export. Ask your customs broker and organic control body to confirm the full requirements before ordering organic stock.

Confirm the species, fresh or chilled condition and presentation using finding your commodity code. For the frozen alternative, see frozen sugar snap peas. Agree the customs description before dispatch.

Specify edible pods and arrival condition

Specify sugar snap peas with fleshy edible pods, rather than flat mangetout or peas intended for shelling. Agree variety, pod length and fullness, tenderness, stringiness, trimming and acceptable defects against a retained sample. State whether the supply is loose for catering or packed for retail.

Agree pre-cooling, chilled transport, temperature recording, pack ventilation and remaining shelf life on arrival. Fresh produce must meet quality and labelling requirements throughout production and marketing. Confirm food-business registration and applicable pesticide maximum residue requirements with the relevant GB food safety authority; request a lot-specific report from an accredited laboratory.

Worked duty example

Illustrative example, not a quote: Illustrative order only: 5 tonnes of chilled sugar snap peas in bulk cartons under 0708 10 00 00, invoiced at £18,000 free on board, with £4,500 of freight and insurance to the UK. The customs value is £22,500. Duty at 8% is £1,800. Import VAT at 20% is charged on the customs value plus duty, £24,300, so it is £4,860. Import taxes total £6,660; a VAT-registered importer can usually reclaim the VAT, so the lasting cost is the £1,800 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

Pods: check rounded shape, green colour, firmness and tenderness against the approved sample; record yellowing, shrivelling, splitting and tough strings.

Condition: examine packs for mould, soft decay, wet surfaces, pest damage, soil and foreign matter; open cartons from different positions in the load.

Cold chain: compare arrival temperature and transport records with the agreed specification, and assess remaining shelf life before accepting the shipment.

Identity and weight: match carton lot codes to residue reports and shipping documents; check pack weights, origin information and the phytosanitary certificate. Use the quality inspection guide to define the checks.

What goes wrong

A supplier may substitute flat mangetout or harvest pods too late, leaving fibrous walls and tough strings. Warm handling causes loss of firmness, while wet packaging can leave decay hidden beneath apparently sound pods. Photographs of the top layer cannot establish the condition of the whole load.

Unmatched lot codes weaken confidence that the residue report covers the delivered peas. Missing plant-health paperwork can disrupt arrival plans. Set acceptance criteria for maturity, condition and remaining shelf life before dispatch, then record defects and temperature evidence on arrival.

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.