Sourcing hand-cranked apple peelers from China

2% UK duty on hand-cranked apple peelers

Heading 8210 covers hand-operated mechanical appliances weighing 10 kg or less used to prepare, condition or serve food or drink. This guide concerns hand-cranked apple peelers with a mechanical feed. Simple handheld peelers without a mechanism need separate classification. See the wider manual kitchen gadgets guide.

Read from the UK Trade Tariff on 30 September 2026, commodity code 8210 00 00 00 carries 2% duty for goods from China. The supplied tariff record lists no anti-dumping or countervailing duties, suspensions or import controls. Only the single commodity line supplied is shown in the table.

Confirm the complete appliance's weight, mechanism and functions before choosing its commodity code. Do not assume that separately supplied replacement blades use the complete appliance's code.

Specify the blade, apple feed and mounting

Specify whether the appliance peels only or also cores and slices. Agree the apple sizes and shapes to use in sample trials, blade adjustment, peel thickness, spindle travel and how the fruit is held. Choose a suction base or bench clamp and define the surfaces or bench edges on which it must hold.

Record materials for the blade, fruit-holding prongs, coring cutter and any parts touching apples. Confirm the applicable food-contact materials rules and any declaration of compliance or supporting migration evidence needed for food-contact plastics with the relevant authority. Match this paperwork to the actual materials supplied. Importers and sellers are responsible for consumer product safety.

Agree cleaning access, blade removal, crank assembly, replacement parts and protective packing. Ask for clear English instructions covering mounting, loading, adjustment and cleaning. Assess exposed blades, pointed prongs and finger traps during sample approval.

Worked duty example

Illustrative example, not a quote: Illustrative order: 2,000 hand-cranked apple peelers under 8210 00 00 00, invoiced at £30,000 free on board, with £2,000 of freight and insurance to the UK. The customs value is £32,000. Duty at 2% is £640. Import VAT at 20% is charged on the customs value plus duty, £32,640, so it is £6,528. Import taxes total £7,168; a VAT-registered importer can usually reclaim the VAT, so the lasting cost is the £640 of duty. The import duty and VAT guide explains each step.

Inspection checklist

Peeling and feed: try the agreed apples, checking missed patches, excessive flesh removal, fruit slipping on the prongs and feed alignment. Test coring and slicing if included.

Mounting and crank: check suction on the agreed surfaces or clamp fit on the agreed bench edges. Operate repeatedly under load and inspect spindle wobble, stripped threads and loose handles.

Materials and cleaning: match food-contact evidence to the supplied parts. Inspect blade corrosion, coating damage, burrs and places where peel or juice remains after cleaning.

Packing and instructions: check covers over blades and prongs, secure loose accessories and confirm that English assembly and cleaning instructions match the supplied model.

What goes wrong

A sample may peel a regular apple neatly but leave patches on uneven fruit or cut away too much flesh. Poor alignment can let the apple rotate on its prongs instead of advancing through the blade. A suction base may release on the buyer's worktop even when it holds on the factory's test surface.

Crank screws work loose, feed threads wear and coatings chip where moving parts rub. Prevent disputes by approving trials on the agreed apples and mounting surfaces, recording acceptable peeling results and checking production samples against the approved mechanism and materials.

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.