Sourcing Salmon Oil from China

Salmon oil duty and classification

Read from the UK Trade Tariff on 4 October 2026, heading 1504 covers fish and marine mammal fats and oils, whether refined or not, but not chemically modified. Ordinary salmon body oil under 1504 20 90 00 carries 0% duty from China; solid fractions carry 10%. Salmon-liver oil needs separate classification: the low-vitamin-A line carries 2%, while other salmon-liver oil carries 0%.

The relevant lines show no anti-dumping or countervailing duty and no tariff suspension. The UK Trade Tariff attaches veterinary, CITES, organic-product and waste import controls. Settle the veterinary route for food or feed before shipping. Ask your customs broker to confirm the organic and CITES requirements for your exact Chinese shipment, and whether the waste control applies to the material.

Give your broker the salmon species, body or liver source, processing method, physical form and intended use to confirm the commodity code. Supplement capsules are usually classified as food preparations rather than bulk oil. The fish-oil guide covers the wider heading. The liver-oil table row is conditional and should not be used for ordinary salmon body oil.

Specify the salmon source and intended use

Specify the salmon species, farmed or wild source, raw-material origin and extraction and refining process. State whether the order is food-grade oil, a feed ingredient or technical material. Agree EPA and DHA content, peroxide and anisidine values, total oxidation, free fatty acids, antioxidants, shelf life and storage conditions. Request batch records supporting the salmon identity rather than relying on colour or the product name.

For human consumption, ask APHA and the relevant food authority to confirm country and establishment eligibility, pre-notification, documents appropriate to the risk category, marine-oil contaminant limits and food labelling requirements. Feed and technical oil follow the animal by-products route; the producing establishment must be approved to export to Great Britain. Ask APHA to confirm how the Chinese raw-material source, including farmed salmon, affects admissibility, residue testing and any additional declaration.

Agree sealed, nitrogen-flushed packing and protection from heat and oxygen. For an organic order, confirm the applicable certification and inspection documents with your customs broker and an approved UK organic control body before ordering. If the oil is waste and enters England under notification controls, the exporter must apply for consent to the competent authority in the country of dispatch.

Worked duty example

Illustrative example, not a quote: 20 tonnes of bulk salmon body oil for a feed blender, illustrative only under 1504 20 90 00, invoiced at £50,000 free on board, with £4,000 of freight and insurance to the UK. The customs value is £54,000. Duty at 0% is £0. Import VAT at 20% is charged on the customs value plus duty, £54,000, so it is £10,800. 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. This assumes the goods are standard-rated for VAT. Most food for human consumption is zero-rated, and animal feed can be too, in which case no import VAT is due, so check the rate for your product in HMRC's VAT Notice 701/14.

Inspection checklist

Identity: match the salmon species, raw-material origin, declared use and batch references across the purchase specification, analysis certificate and shipment records.

Laboratory: independently sample the batch for EPA and DHA, peroxide and anisidine values, free fatty acids and the agreed contaminant panel.

Packing: inspect seals, leaks, drum cleanliness, nitrogen-flushing records and storage or transport temperature records on arrival.

Documents: check establishment details, the agreed health or animal by-product documents, and any organic, CITES or waste paperwork confirmed for the shipment.

What goes wrong

A salmon-oil description can hide a mixed-species oil or a fatty-acid profile that does not match the buyer's specification. Heat, oxygen and poor seals can leave an acceptable loading sample unrepresentative of the delivered batch. Compare retained and arrival samples before accepting an unexplained change in smell, colour or oxidation results.

Paperwork also fails when the producer, raw-material source or declared use changes after the order is agreed. Confirm the import route before paying for production, then match the actual shipment to that decision. Use factory verification to check production records and the inspection guide to plan sampling.

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.