Sourcing rugs and bath mats from China

A flat 8%

Read from the UK Trade Tariff on 26 September 2026, other carpets and textile floor coverings of heading 5705, of man-made textile materials, of sisal, agave or Manila hemp, and of other textiles, hand-made or not, carried 8% duty on goods from China, with no anti-dumping measure.

Tufted carpets and rugs are in heading 5703, covered in the carpets guide, woven carpets in 5702 and felt floor coverings in 5704; confirm the commodity code from how the rug is made.

Safety and labels

Rugs and bath mats sold to consumers must be safe under the General Product Safety Regulations 2005 in Great Britain; Northern Ireland applies the EU General Product Safety Regulation instead. A rug that slides on a hard floor is the main safety complaint, so the backing and any anti-slip claim need testing. Fibre composition must be labelled under the Textile Products (Labelling and Fibre Composition) Regulations 2012; for floor coverings the composition of the use surface is what must be shown.

Rugs and mats used in public buildings or workplaces are usually specified with a fire class under EN 14041 by the buyer, so ask for the reaction to fire report if you sell into contract markets.

Worked duty example

For a made-up shipment of 6,000 printed polyester rugs under 5705 00 30 90, add the £4,000 of freight and insurance to the £30,000 free-on-board price and customs sees £34,000. At 8%, duty on these polyester rugs is £2,720; import VAT of £7,344 is 20% of the value with duty added. Together that is £10,064, but a VAT-registered importer usually gets the VAT back. The duty and VAT guide walks through the calculation.

Inspection checklist

Backing and slip: anti-slip backings tested on laminate, vinyl and sealed wood by a practical slip test against the approved sample, left in contact with those floors to check for staining or marking, and screened for PAHs under UK REACH Annex XVII entry 50 where rubber or plastic backing touches skin, as on bath mats.

Colour and washing: colour fastness to washing to ISO 105-C06 and to rubbing to ISO 105-X12 on each colourway, dimensional change after the care-label wash to ISO 6330 and ISO 5077 so edges do not curl, and water absorbency of bath mats checked against the approved sample.

Labels and contract use: fibre composition tested to the ISO 1833 series against the label, sizes measured on each design, and for contract sales a reaction to fire classification to EN 13501-1 checked against the report for the exact construction and backing.

What goes wrong

Rugs and mats fail at the backing and in the wash. Latex or TPR anti-slip backings crack, peel or stain wooden and vinyl floors, and some backings slide more once dusty. Printed rugs fade or bleed when washed, edges curl because the backing shrinks differently from the face, and bath mats lose their water absorbency or stay damp and smell.

Test slip resistance and floor staining on laminate and vinyl samples, wash-test for colour fastness, shrinkage and backing adhesion, check edges lie flat, test water absorbency on bath mats, and check sizes, labels and packing at inspection.

Cambridge China Bridge sources printed rugs, bath mats, braided and natural fibre floor coverings, with backing tests, labels and wash testing agreed before the order. Find out how we source home textiles. For trade in the other direction, see exporting UK carpets to China.

Rubber entrance and anti-fatigue mats are a rubber product, not a carpet; see our rubber sheet and matting guide.