Silicone oils, rubbers and resins from China

6%, with named 0% grades

Read from the UK Trade Tariff on 26 September 2026, silicones in primary forms of heading 3910 carried 6% duty on goods from China, with no anti-dumping measure. Suspensions to 31 December 2028 give 0% to silicones of a kind used to make long-term surgical implants, to hydroxy-terminated dimethyl siloxane of 38 to 100 mPa·s, and, from 5 August 2026, to platinum-catalysed addition-cure liquid silicone mixtures for textile, automotive and electrical applications and to fluorosilicone rubber intermediates and methacrylate-ended polydimethylsiloxanes. None covers mixtures outside its description.

Finished silicone products are classified by what they are: kitchenware and moulds as articles of plastics, seals and gaskets with rubber or plastic articles, and silicone sealants in tubes as prepared glues or mastics. Confirm the commodity code. Our gaskets guide covers finished seals.

Cosmetics, food contact and REACH

Silicones used in cosmetics are named on the label as dimethicone or another INCI name, and UK REACH Annex XVII entry 70 restricts the cyclic siloxanes D4 and D5 to below 0.1% in wash-off cosmetic products, so ask for the residual cyclic siloxane content on each lot of fluid or emulsion for that market. Silicone for food contact has no specific GB measure, so it falls under the framework Regulation 1935/2004, and buyers commonly ask for testing against the German BfR recommendation for silicones.

An importer of more than one tonne a year should check UK REACH registration for the siloxane monomers and any additives; see our UK REACH guide. Medical or implant grades need the maker's biocompatibility evidence and quality system, which is a different supply chain from industrial fluids.

Worked duty example

For a made-up shipment of 5 tonnes of dimethyl silicone fluid in drums under 3910 00 00 90, add the £1,400 of freight and insurance to the £17,000 free-on-board price and customs sees £18,400. At 6%, duty on these silicone fluid is £1,104; import VAT of £3,900.80 is 20% of the value with duty added. Together that is £5,004.80, but a VAT-registered importer usually gets the VAT back. The suspensions on this line are narrow, covering named platinum-cure mixtures and methacrylate-ended siloxanes, so an ordinary silicone oil or gum pays the full 6%. The duty and VAT guide walks through the calculation.

What goes wrong

Silicone lots fail on viscosity, cure and volatiles. Fluids arrive outside the viscosity grade, liquid silicone rubber cures slowly or incompletely because the catalyst or inhibitor has drifted, cured parts are softer or weaker than the data sheet, and high residual cyclics cause fogging, odour or failed cosmetic specifications. Drums leak or pick up moisture, and grades are relabelled.

Test each lot for viscosity by a rotational method such as ISO 3219, volatile content by heating loss, and for rubbers cure a test slab and measure Shore A hardness to ISO 48-4, tensile strength and elongation to ISO 37 and tear strength to ISO 34-1 against the data sheet, and ask for cyclic siloxane content where it matters. Check drum seals, labels and batch numbers before loading.

Cambridge China Bridge sources silicone fluids, gums, liquid silicone rubber and resins for manufacturers and formulators, and can qualify a Chinese producer alongside a current supplier. See our second-supplier service. For lubricants, see our guide to sourcing lubricants and motor oils. For gear lubricants, see our mineral gear oil sourcing guide.