Sourcing steel kitchen scourers from China

UK duty on stainless-steel kitchen scourers

Heading 7323 covers iron and steel household articles as well as steel wool, pot scourers and scouring or polishing pads. Stainless-steel kitchen scourers belong in the scourer line, rather than the general stainless-steel household article line.

Read from the UK Trade Tariff on 8 October 2026, the supplied entry for 7323 10 00 00 shows 0% duty for goods from China, with no anti-dumping or countervailing duty, suspension or attached import control recorded. Other lines in this heading have different measures; do not transfer those measures to scourers.

Confirm the finished product and any composite construction using finding your commodity code. The stainless-steel colanders guide covers another product family within this wider heading. For kettles, see our stainless steel stovetop kettle guide.

Specify the wire and scourer construction

Agree the stainless-steel grade by name, wire form, finished weight, shape, tightness of winding and whether the scourer has a separate sponge or handle. Keep an approved sample and ask for material evidence tied to the production batch. A magnet test alone should not be your acceptance test for stainless steel.

Agree a practical wet-use trial covering rubbing, squeezing, rinsing and drying. Inspect for detached wire, exposed sharp ends, rust staining and loss of shape. Define the surfaces the scourer is intended to clean and check any non-scratch claim on those surfaces.

For consumer scourers supplied in Great Britain, the general product safety rules require safe products. Treat detached sharp wire and cuts during foreseeable handling as safety concerns when assessing the sample.

Worked duty example

Illustrative example, not a quote: 3,000 stainless-steel kitchen scourers, illustrative order under 7323 10 00 00, invoiced at £1,120 free on board, with £700 of freight and insurance to the UK. The customs value is £1,820. Duty at 0% is £0. Import VAT at 20% is charged on the customs value plus duty, £1,820, so it is £364. 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.

Inspection checklist

Material: compare the production material evidence and finish with the agreed steel specification; inspect for rust staining after the agreed wet-use trial.

Construction: rub, squeeze and rinse samples; check for loose strands, sharp ends, unravelling and permanent collapse.

Packing: check pack contents, dry condition, sealed packs and carton identification against the order.

Arrival: open packs from different cartons and repeat the agreed handling trial. Record discrepancies with photographs and retain samples for quality inspection.

What goes wrong

A sample may stay tightly wound while production scourers unravel or shed wire. A change in material can also produce rust staining after wet use. Agree acceptance criteria before ordering and compare production samples with the retained sample.

Packing can hide flattened scourers or trapped moisture. Check the product after unpacking, rather than accepting the appearance of the retail pack alone. Avoid broad claims about safe use on every cookware surface unless your trials support them.

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.