Sourcing Isooctane from China

Isooctane duty and commodity code

Read from the UK Trade Tariff on 1 October 2026, isooctane falls within saturated acyclic hydrocarbons under 2901 10 00 00, carrying 0% duty for goods from China. No anti-dumping or countervailing duty, or suspension, is recorded for this line. The grade descriptions in the table share this commodity code.

The supplied tariff record attaches an “Export control - Waste” measure. The importer should confirm with their customs broker whether any waste requirement applies to the proposed shipment, particularly if the supplier offers recovered solvent.

Confirm the commodity code using the composition and batch certificate, especially for blends sold under a solvent trade name. See the wider acyclic hydrocarbons guide for related products.

Specify isooctane by intended use

Write isooctane explicitly into the purchase specification. Agree purity, other hydrocarbon content, water, sulphur, non-volatile residue and distillation range, with test methods and acceptance limits. State whether you want virgin material and whether the intended use is industrial processing, laboratory analysis or fuel testing.

For chromatography, request a sample and assess solvent background using your analytical method. For fuel testing, agree suitability with the laboratory using it rather than accepting a generic solvent-grade certificate.

For Great Britain, confirm with HSE whether your annual substance imports need UK REACH registration or coverage through an only representative. Correct labelling and packaging are required before chemicals are placed on the market. Isooctane is a flammable dangerous good; agree transport packaging and documentation before dispatch.

Worked duty example

Illustrative example, not a quote: 18 tonnes of drum-packed isooctane for a solvent distributor; illustrative only under 2901 10 00 00, invoiced at £21,000 free on board, with £3,200 of freight and insurance to the UK. The customs value is £24,200. Duty at 0% is £0. Import VAT at 20% is charged on the customs value plus duty, £24,200, so it is £4,840. With no duty, the only import tax is the VAT, which a VAT-registered importer can usually reclaim. The import duty and VAT guide explains each step.

Inspection checklist

Identity and purity: compare independent gas chromatography results with the agreed specification and the certificate for the actual batch.

Water and residue: check water, appearance and evaporation residue against the purchased grade; assess analytical background where relevant.

Packing: inspect drum condition, seals, leakage, batch identification and hazard labels; request cleaning records for reused transport equipment.

Documents: match the batch certificate and English safety data sheet to the delivered material, and review transport documents before loading. Use the inspection guide to agree sampling and reporting.

What goes wrong

A generic hydrocarbon blend can be offered against an isooctane specification, or industrial solvent can be supplied for an analytical application. A purity result alone may conceal unsuitable trace contaminants or solvent background. Approve a representative sample using the intended process before accepting the batch.

Previous cargo residues, damaged seals and certificates that belong to another batch undermine otherwise suitable material. Record the agreed grade, sampling method and packaging condition in the order, then compare arrival samples with retained pre-shipment samples.

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.