Sourcing stainless steel sheet and coil from China

Duty

Read from the UK Trade Tariff on 25 September 2026, cold-rolled flat products of stainless steel of a width of 600 mm or more, in the thickness bands checked, carried 0% duty on goods from China, and the codes showed no anti-dumping or other trade remedy measure on China. Several lines are split by country of consignment for other origins, so the tariff should be checked for each order.

Narrower strip, hot-rolled products and tubes have their own headings; confirm the commodity code by width, thickness, nickel content and rolling. For alloy sheet and coil, see our alloy steel sheet sourcing guide. For semi-finished stainless products, see our stainless steel slabs and billets guide.

All the lines in the table above are in the iron and steel sector of the UK carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM), which applies to imports from 1 January 2027. An importer who expects £50,000 or more of CBAM goods within 30 days, or has imported that much in the previous 12 months, must register, keep records for 6 years, and should ask suppliers for emissions data now. See our UK CBAM guide.

Grade, finish and tolerance

Specify the grade, for example an austenitic grade for food and outdoor use or a ferritic grade for cost-sensitive interior work, the surface finish, the thickness and its tolerance, width, length or coil weight, flatness and edge condition. The nickel content also changes the ten-digit code.

Ask for mill certificates to EN 10204 type 3.1 with chemical and mechanical results for each heat, and check thickness, finish and protective film on arrival samples at inspection.

Traceability and substitution

The substitution risk in stainless is a cheaper grade with a similar appearance. Ask for the heat number on every sheet or coil, match it to the certificate, and use a portable analyser or laboratory test on samples when the grade matters.

For fabrication and machining, see the custom metal components guide.

Worked duty example

An invented example rather than a quote: 25 tonnes of grade 304 cold-rolled sheet, 2 mm thick, commodity code 7219 33 10 90, bought for £55,000 free on board, with £3,500 of freight and insurance, so £58,500 is the value customs works from. No duty is due on cold-rolled stainless sheet; import VAT at 20% of £58,500 is £11,700. If you are VAT-registered, that VAT is normally reclaimable. When checked, these cold-rolled stainless lines were not among those carrying the 50% out-of-quota steel duty that applies to many steel products from 1 July 2026. See calculating UK import duty and VAT for the method.

Inspection checklist

Grade and properties: BS EN 10088-2 sets the chemical composition, mechanical properties and surface finish designations for stainless sheet and strip for general purposes. Check the certificate values against it for the ordered grade, and for low-carbon L grades confirm carbon by optical emission spectrometry, which a handheld XRF cannot measure.

Dimensions and flatness: measure thickness, width and length or coil width against the tolerance class in BS EN ISO 9445-2 for cold-rolled wide strip and sheet, and check flatness and edge camber on sampled sheets against the same standard.

Surface and coils: compare the finish designation (for example 2B or BA) with the approved sample under good light, check surface roughness with a profilometer where an Ra value is specified, and check coil weight, inside diameter, telescoping and the grade, heat and coil number on each label.

What goes wrong

Stainless sheet fails on grade, surface and dimensions. A cheaper low-nickel grade is supplied against an order for 304 or 316 and looks the same until it rusts, certificates are copied across heats, and the surface finish shows scratches, roll marks or staining under the protective film. Thickness runs at the bottom of the tolerance, sheets are not flat, edges carry burrs, and film adhesive leaves residue after months in a warm warehouse.

Check every sheet or coil for heat numbers matching an inspection certificate type 3.1 to BS EN 10204, verify the grade with a portable XRF analyser on samples, measure thickness at several points against the tolerance standard, check flatness on a table, inspect the finish under good light with the film peeled back at corners, and check edge condition and packing before loading.

Packing and freight

Sheets travel on wooden pallets or in crates and coils on saddles, with film and edge protection against scratches and moisture. Plan the load by weight. Cambridge China Bridge sources stainless steel sheet and coil for fabricators and manufacturers, with grade, finish, certificates and packing verified before shipment. See how our sourcing service works.