Sourcing plastic-coated textile yarn from China

UK duty on plastic-coated textile yarn

Heading 5604 covers textile yarn and specified textile strip impregnated, coated, covered or sheathed with rubber or plastics, as well as textile-covered rubber thread and cord. This guide concerns yarn with a textile core and plastic coating. See textile-covered rubber thread for the wider heading.

Read from the UK Trade Tariff on 2 October 2026, all relevant plastic-coated yarn lines carry 4% duty for goods from China. The supplied tariff record lists no anti-dumping or countervailing measures, suspensions or attached import controls for these lines.

Send your broker the core fibre, filament or spun construction, high-tenacity specification, twist, coating material and retail packaging details to confirm the commodity code. A description such as plastic yarn does not identify whether the product has a textile core.

Specify the textile core and plastic coating

Specify the core fibre, yarn linear density, finished diameter, coating polymer, coating mass, colour and surface finish. Agree tolerances, breaking force, elongation, spool net weight, winding direction and permitted joins. Keep an approved sample and trial the coated yarn through the guides, needles or weaving equipment it will encounter.

UK REACH applies to substances in articles, and restrictions can limit, ban or condition their use or supply. Ask for the coating formulation and test evidence selected for the material and intended use. Where textile labelling rules apply, the label must show fibre content. Yarn supplied as a consumer product in Great Britain must be safe under the General Product Safety Regulations 2005.

Worked duty example

Illustrative example, not a quote: Illustrative order: 5 tonnes of plastic-coated textile yarn on spools under 5604 90 90 90, invoiced at £16,000 free on board, with £1,200 of freight and insurance to the UK. The customs value is £17,200. Duty at 4% is £688. Import VAT at 20% is charged on the customs value plus duty, £17,888, so it is £3,577.60. Import taxes total £4,265.60; a VAT-registered importer can usually reclaim the VAT, so the lasting cost is the £688 of duty. The import duty and VAT guide explains each step.

Inspection checklist

Core and dimensions: compare the exposed core with the agreed fibre specification, measure finished diameter along sampled lengths and check net yarn weight separately from the spool.

Coating adhesion: bend and rub samples using the agreed method; check for cracking, peeling, bare patches, lumps and coating dust. Compare results with the approved sample.

Processing behaviour: unwind sampled spools under the agreed tension and check snagging, stuck turns, uneven winding, joins and breakage during a machine trial.

Colour and records: check shade and transfer onto adjacent materials, match batch identities to the order and chemical reports, and check applicable fibre labels. Use an agreed inspection brief.

What goes wrong

An uneven coating changes diameter and friction, causing feed problems even when the core yarn matches the order. Poor adhesion leaves flakes on machinery; a brittle coating cracks on bending; a tacky coating makes adjacent turns stick together. Excess coating can also disguise a lighter textile core.

Agree acceptance checks on the finished coated yarn, retain samples from accepted batches and repeat the processing trial when the core or formulation changes. A report for a different polymer or colour does not establish the performance of the yarn supplied. For help selecting chemical checks, see testing and certification.

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.