Magnesium ingots and anodes from China

Zero duty on magnesium

Read from the UK Trade Tariff on 26 September 2026, unwrought magnesium containing at least 99.8% magnesium, other unwrought magnesium and alloys, waste and scrap, raspings, turnings, granules and powders, and other articles of magnesium carried 0% duty on goods from China, with no anti-dumping measure. Import VAT at 20% is due on the customs value.

Magnesium oxide and magnesia refractories are in chapter 25 and heading 2519, not 8104, and die-cast parts are classified by what they are, so a housing or bracket goes with the machine it belongs to. Confirm the commodity code.

Grades, anodes and dangerous goods

Unalloyed magnesium ingot is specified to BS EN 12421 or ASTM B92/B92M by purity grade, such as 99.8% or 99.9%, with limits on iron, nickel, copper and silicon, and alloy ingot for die casting to BS EN 1753 or ASTM B93/B93M, such as AZ91D or AM60B. Sacrificial anodes for water heaters, tanks and buried pipelines are made to ASTM B843, with cathodic protection design for buried structures under BS EN 12954.

Solid ingots are not dangerous goods, but magnesium powder is UN 1418, class 4.3 with a class 4.2 subsidiary risk, and pellets, turnings or ribbons are UN 1869, class 4.1, so they need dangerous goods packing and declarations. Keep ingots dry in storage; burning magnesium reacts with water.

Worked duty example

An invented example rather than a quote: 20 tonnes of 99.9% magnesium ingots, commodity code 8104 11 00 00, bought for £50,000 free on board, with £2,500 of freight and insurance, so £52,500 is the value customs works from. No duty is due on magnesium ingots; import VAT at 20% of £52,500 is £10,500. If you are VAT-registered, that VAT is normally reclaimable. Magnesium powder and turnings cost more to ship than ingots because they travel as dangerous goods. See calculating UK import duty and VAT for the method.

What goes wrong

Magnesium fails on impurities and oxidation. Iron, nickel or copper above the grade limits make alloys and anodes corrode much faster; ingots arrive with oxide, flux inclusions or surface corrosion from damp storage; alloy ingots drift outside the aluminium or zinc range for the die-casting grade; and anodes give lower output current than the design because of composition or core attachment.

Analyse each lot by spark optical emission spectrometry against the grade limits, inspect fractured ingot samples for inclusions, check surfaces and strapping for corrosion and moisture, test anode samples for open-circuit potential and core bond, and confirm dangerous goods packing and paperwork for any powder or turnings before booking.

Cambridge China Bridge sources magnesium ingots, alloy ingots, granules and anodes for foundries, steelworks and cathodic protection contractors, checking the smelter and its analysis lab first. See how we verify a producer.