Sourcing kraft paper and sack kraft from China

0% duty

Read from the UK Trade Tariff on 27 September 2026, heading 4804 covers uncoated kraft paper and paperboard in rolls or sheets, other than that of headings 4802 or 4803. All 26 lines carried 0% on goods from China, with no anti-dumping measure: kraftliner, sack kraft, other kraft paper and board by weight band (150 g/m² or less, over 150 but under 225 g/m², 225 g/m² or more), each split by bleaching and by whether at least 80% of the fibre is coniferous sulphate or soda pulp.

Corrugated board and creped kraft are covered in our corrugated board guide, and finished boxes and bags are heading 4819; confirm the commodity code.

Paper and paperboard of chapter 48 are within the scope of the UK Timber Regulations, except bamboo-based and recovered (waste and scrap) products. The business that first places the goods on the GB market, usually the importer, must carry out due diligence on the timber behind the paper, so ask the supplier for the pulp source, species and country of harvest, and any FSC or PEFC chain of custody certificate.

Food contact and packaging rules

Kraft paper used for food packaging is a food contact material under retained Regulation (EC) No 1935/2004, so ask for a declaration and test results for the intended food and conditions. Packaging you place on the UK market from it counts under packaging extended producer responsibility; see our packaging EPR guide.

Specifying kraft paper

Specify grade and grammage with tolerance, bleached or unbleached, fibre (virgin or recycled content), tensile strength and stretch for sack kraft, burst and ring crush for liner, porosity, moisture content, reel width, diameter and core size, and moisture-proof wrapping.

Worked duty example

Suppose, purely for illustration, you import 40 tonnes of unbleached sack kraft on reels under 4804 21 10 00. At £30,000 free on board and £3,500 to ship and insure, the customs value is £33,500. With 0% duty on sack kraft, the only charge is import VAT: 20% of £33,500, or £6,700. VAT-registered businesses usually recover that in their next return. The method is set out in how UK import duty and VAT work.

Inspection checklist

Properties: check grammage, moisture, tensile and burst results per reel batch against the specification, and test a sample in your converting line.

Reels: check width, diameter, core size, splices per reel and edge damage.

Packing: check wrapping and end protection against moisture in the container.

What goes wrong

Kraft paper orders fail on strength, moisture and reel damage. Recycled fibre is used in place of virgin kraft and strength drops, moisture pick-up causes curl and breaks, and reels arrive with crushed cores or damaged edges.

Test reels before shipping and specify wrapping. See our quality inspection guide.

Cambridge China Bridge sources kraft paper for UK sack, bag and packaging converters, checking the mill's grades and test lab first. See factory verification. For packaging labels, see our direct thermal paper label sourcing guide.