Sourcing Salted Herring from China

Herring-related lines: 10% to 12%

Read from the UK Trade Tariff on 5 October 2026, heading 0305 covers dried, salted, brined and smoked fish. The supplied extract gives 10% for salted herring hard roes and smoked herring, and 12% for the listed herring heads, tails and maws. These selected lines have no recorded anti-dumping or countervailing duty and no suspension. The table includes related herring forms because the extract omits a dedicated whole salted-herring line.

The listed lines carry veterinary and organic import controls. The smoked herring and listed heads, tails and maws also carry illegal fishing controls. Ask your customs broker to confirm establishment approval, health certification, pre-notification and border-check requirements for fishery imports from China, and whether wild-caught fish needs a flag-state-validated catch certificate. The roe and offal lines also attach CITES controls in the extract. Ask your customs broker to confirm their application to the exact species and shipment.

Confirm the commodity code from the scientific species, whether the goods are whole fish, fillets, roe or offal, and whether they are dried or smoked as well as salted. Do not use the smoked-herring code for an unsmoked product. For organic goods, the tariff attaches an organic import control; confirm the consignment requirements with your broker. The exporter’s control body issues the inspection certificate. See the wider fish guide.

Specify the herring and the cure

Ask for the scientific species, catch origin, whole or gutted form, head-on or headless presentation, fillet preparation and bone tolerance. Specify dry salting or brining, the agreed salt and moisture content, size grade, drained fish weight, ingredients and pack format. State whether the buyer will cook, soak or serve the fish without further cooking.

Agree storage conditions and shelf life against the actual process and packaging. Request batch results for salt, moisture, histamine and microbiology, and retain an approved sample. Official guidance classes fishery products from histamine-forming species as medium risk. For retail packs, check English information covering species, production method and area, fish allergen, storage and a UK address.

Worked duty example

Illustrative example, not a quote: Illustrative order: 2 tonnes of salted herring hard roes; FOB and freight values are illustrative under 0305 20 00 11, invoiced at £16,000 free on board, with £1,500 of freight and insurance to the UK. The customs value is £17,500. Duty at 10% is £1,750. Import VAT at 20% is charged on the customs value plus duty, £19,250, so it is £3,850. Import taxes total £5,600; a VAT-registered importer can usually reclaim the VAT, so the lasting cost is the £1,750 of duty. 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 and documents: match the species, product form, plant approval and batch details across the goods, invoice, packing list and health certificate; check the catch certificate for wild-caught fish.

Cure and condition: compare salt and moisture results with the specification; look for uneven curing, rancid odour, discolouration, mould and damaged flesh.

Weight and presentation: weigh drained fish separately from brine; check size grade, broken pieces, gutting quality and bones against the approved sample.

Packs and storage: inspect seals and leakage, match labels to the batch and check arrival conditions against the agreed storage specification.

What goes wrong

The supplier’s description may conceal a different species, smoked product or roe rather than whole salted fish. Brine can inflate the delivered weight, curing can vary between batches, and poor handling can leave histamine or microbiological problems that appearance alone does not reveal.

Ask your customs broker to confirm how establishment approval and certificate discrepancies could affect border clearance. Resolve the whole-fish classification gap before ordering, verify the establishment and documents before dispatch, and compare arrival samples with batch laboratory results.

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.