Sourcing steam turbines from China

0% duty

Read from the UK Trade Tariff on 27 September 2026, steam turbines and other vapour turbines, heading 8406, carried 0% on goods from China on all seven lines, above and below 40 MW, including rotors, blades and other parts, with no anti-dumping measure.

Gas turbines are in heading 8411 (see our gas turbines guide), boilers under 8402 (see our steam boilers guide), and generators separately as electrical machines. Confirm the commodity code for each part of a package.

Specification and safety

Steam turbines are machinery under the Supply of Machinery (Safety) Regulations 2008, and the steam piping, valves and vessels around them fall under the UK pressure equipment rules, which the plant designer addresses. IEC 60045-1 sets out the specification for steam turbines, including the information the buyer and supplier exchange and the performance guarantees.

Overspeed protection, trip valves and control systems are safety-critical, so ask for their design basis and test records before the turbine ships.

Specifying a turbine

Specify rated output, inlet steam pressure and temperature, exhaust or extraction pressures, steam flow, speed and gearbox, back-pressure or condensing type, guaranteed heat rate or efficiency, governor and protection systems, generator interface, lube oil system, and the site installation, commissioning and training package.

Worked duty example

An invented example rather than a quote: one 5 MW condensing steam turbine, commodity code 8406 82 00 90, bought for £1,400,000 free on board, with £45,000 of freight and insurance, so £1,445,000 is the value customs works from. No duty is due on steam turbines; import VAT at 20% of £1,445,000 is £289,000. If you are VAT-registered, that VAT is normally reclaimable. See calculating UK import duty and VAT for the method.

Inspection checklist

Rotor and blading: check rotor forging certificates, blade material certificates and the rotor balancing record, and witness the overspeed test where the builder performs one.

Casing and valves: check pressure test records for the casing and valves, and check the trip and control valve functions on the test bench.

Performance and documents: agree the performance test method, such as the procedure in the contract based on IEC 60045-1, and check the declaration of conformity, manuals, drawings and spares list before shipment.

What goes wrong

Steam turbines fail on performance guarantees, protection systems and support. Output or heat rate falls short at your steam conditions, overspeed and trip systems lack test evidence, lube oil systems leak, and specialist service engineers are hard to arrange.

Put performance guarantees and test methods in the contract, witness factory tests, and plan commissioning and long-term support. See our quality inspection guide.

Cambridge China Bridge sources steam turbines and turbine parts for UK and overseas energy and process plants, checking the builder's references and test facilities before an order. See factory verification.