Sourcing frozen geoduck clams from China

10% duty, but the China food-import route is closed

Read from the UK Trade Tariff on 30 September 2026, frozen clams under 0307 72 90 00 carried 10% duty for goods from China, with no recorded anti-dumping or countervailing duty and no suspension. Heading 0307 covers molluscs in several preservation states. The buying forms shown share the frozen clam line; confirm the exact species and preparation through our commodity code guide.

Frozen geoduck is a bivalve mollusc. Confirm with the relevant animal health authority or your customs broker whether China is approved to supply the exact frozen product to Great Britain for human consumption. Official guidance prohibits imports from unapproved countries. General fishery-product approval does not establish bivalve approval. See the frozen razor clam guide for the wider clam category.

The tariff attaches veterinary control, illegal fishing control, organic import control and CITES import and export controls. For authorised seafood supplies, ask the relevant animal health authority or your customs broker to confirm establishment approval, health certification, pre-notification and border control post requirements. For any proposed alternative supply route, ask your customs broker to confirm the exact illegal fishing, organic and CITES requirements. These tariff controls do not remove the country-approval restriction.

Specify the geoduck form and harvesting origin

Record the scientific species, harvesting country, freezing establishment and dispatch country separately. Ask whether the geoduck was farmed or wild-caught and request a lot history connecting the harvest to the packed product. Resolve the import route before commissioning samples or placing an order; factory verification should address the actual product and establishment.

For a supply route confirmed as lawful, specify whole shell-on clams, shucked meat, siphons or portions. Agree whether skin and viscera are removed, the drained weight after removing glaze, size grading, freezing method and packaging. Approve a thawed sample for siphon texture, trimming and sand removal, rather than judging only frozen appearance.

Worked duty example

Illustrative example, not a quote: Illustrative only: 2 tonnes of frozen whole geoduck; this is not an authorised China-to-GB food import under 0307 72 90 00, invoiced at £16,000 free on board, with £1,500 of freight and insurance to the UK. The customs value is £17,500. Duty at 10% is £1,750. Import VAT at 20% is charged on the customs value plus duty, £19,250, so it is £3,850. Import taxes total £5,600; a VAT-registered importer can usually reclaim the VAT, so the lasting cost is the £1,750 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

Origin and route: match the harvesting, processing and dispatch records to the proposed supply route before shipment. Do not accept a general seafood approval as confirmation that Chinese geoduck is admissible.

Identity and trimming: compare the supplied species and product form with the order; examine siphon skin, retained viscera, shell fragments and inconsistent cuts.

Weight and cleanliness: remove glaze from samples, weigh drained flesh against the agreed specification and check folds and cavities for sand.

Frozen condition: review transport temperature records and inspect seals, damaged packs, freezer burn and clumped product. For a lawful supply, assess thawed texture against the approved sample.

What goes wrong

The first purchasing failure is assuming that a tariff code and duty rate make the China import route available. A supplier's general fishery approval does not answer the separate bivalve-country question. Stop the Great Britain food order at that stage rather than paying for production and refrigerated transport.

For lawful alternative supplies, commercial failures include excessive glaze, tough siphon skin left on supposedly trimmed meat, retained sand, shell fragments and different proportions of siphon and body meat. Agree the trimming and drained-weight checks before ordering, then compare arrival samples with the same specification.

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.