Sourcing frozen cherries from China

Cherry type and added sugar determine duty

Read from the UK Trade Tariff on 30 September 2026, heading 0811 covers frozen fruit and nuts, uncooked or cooked by steaming or boiling in water, with or without added sweetening matter. For Chinese cherries, unsweetened sour cherries and other unsweetened cherries carry 14%. Sweetened cherries carry 20%, rising to 20% plus £7 per 100 kg where sugar content exceeds 13% by weight.

The supplied cherry lines show no anti-dumping or countervailing duty and no suspension. All attach an organic import control. Organic consignments need an inspection certificate; the exporter’s control body issues it. For imports into Great Britain, check the recognised organic registers for the certification route covering China and the product.

Give your broker the cherry species, processing method, sweetening ingredients and sugar-content evidence before confirming the commodity code. For the wider heading, see the frozen peach slices guide.

Specify pitting, sweetness and intended use

Specify sour or sweet cherries, cultivar, whole or halved fruit, pitted or stone-in, individually frozen or block frozen, colour, size grading and permitted broken fruit. Agree how residual stones and stone fragments will be checked. State whether the cherries will be cooked in a bakery or used without cooking.

Record every added sugar or sweetener and distinguish total sugar content from the amount added. Agree pack weight, storage conditions, loading temperature and temperature monitoring. Confirm the importer’s food safety and traceability responsibilities with the relevant food authority; require batch-linked pesticide, contaminant and microbiological test records suited to the intended use.

Worked duty example

Illustrative example, not a quote: Illustrative order: 5 tonnes of pitted frozen sour cherries for a bakery under 0811 90 75 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 14% is £3,052. Import VAT at 20% is charged on the customs value plus duty, £24,852, so it is £4,970.40. Import taxes total £8,022.40; a VAT-registered importer can usually reclaim the VAT, so the lasting cost is the £3,052 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

Pitting: cut and examine sampled fruit for whole stones, fragments, stalks and foreign matter against the agreed acceptance criteria.

Fruit condition: compare colour, size, broken fruit and freezer damage with the approved sample. Thaw a sample under agreed conditions to assess texture and juice loss.

Cold chain: check core temperature on arrival, logger records, pack seals and clumping. Investigate temperature excursions before accepting the batch.

Documents and labels: match batch identifiers to test reports and delivery records. For prepacked cherries from a Chinese food business sold in Great Britain, include the UK importer’s address. Use the inspection guide to brief the inspector.

What goes wrong

A pitted sample can hide residual stone fragments in production batches. Excess broken fruit and juice loss can make cherries unsuitable for visible bakery toppings. Clumping can indicate thawing and refreezing, while warm handling can damage texture. Check production samples rather than relying on a sales sample.

Undeclared sweetening can change the tariff line and invalidate the agreed specification. Test reports may cover a different batch, and organic shipments can arrive without the inspection certificate. Resolve these discrepancies before shipment. Confirm the exact product’s VAT treatment with HMRC or your customs broker, using the duty and VAT guide as background.

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.