Sourcing tungsten plate from China

Tungsten plate duty and consignment checks

Read from the UK Trade Tariff on 6 November 2026, heading 8101 covers tungsten and its articles, including waste and scrap. Plate, sheet, strip and foil fall within 8101 99 10 00, which carries 0% duty for goods from China. The supplied tariff record lists no residual anti-dumping or countervailing duty and no suspension for this line.

The tariff attaches an anti-dumping or countervailing registration control to this line. Ask your customs broker to confirm whether it applies to consignments from Laos or Thailand, goods consigned directly from China, or your proposed route, and whether registration could lead to retrospective duty before shipment.

Confirm the material and form using finding your commodity code. Tungsten carbide classifies elsewhere. The table shows related flat forms sharing the plate code; it does not imply separate tariff subdivisions. See the wider tungsten heading guide and UK import duty and VAT.

Specify purity, flatness and plate condition

State whether you need pure tungsten or a tungsten heavy alloy. Put composition, density, thickness, width, length, dimensional tolerances, flatness and surface finish on the purchase specification. Agree whether the plate is supplied as rolled, ground or cut to the drawing, and whether machining allowance is needed.

Ask for a batch certificate linked to the delivered plate and agree independent composition checks where the application needs them. UK REACH registration covers substances on their own, substances in mixtures and, in limited cases, substances in articles. Check the supplied material's status rather than assuming that every tungsten plate has the same registration position.

Worked duty example

Illustrative example, not a quote: 500 kg of tungsten plate, illustrative only under 8101 99 10 00, invoiced at £30,000 free on board, with £800 of freight and insurance to the UK. The customs value is £30,800. Duty at 0% is £0. Import VAT at 20% is charged on the customs value plus duty, £30,800, so it is £6,160. 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

Composition: compare the batch certificate with the ordered material and use laboratory analysis to investigate suspected alloy substitution.

Dimensions: measure thickness across the plate, check width and length, and assess flatness against the drawing.

Soundness: inspect faces and edges for cracks, chips and laminations; agree ultrasonic testing where internal defects matter.

Traceability: match plate identification to batch documents and photograph condition on arrival. Agree inspection scope using quality inspection explained.

What goes wrong

A certificate may describe the intended grade while the delivered plate is a different alloy. Rolling defects can leave laminations or cracks, and brittle edges can chip during cutting or handling. A plate that meets its overall dimensions may still fail on local thickness or flatness.

Agree acceptance criteria and the inspection method before production. Keep suspect plates identified and separate from accepted stock until composition, dimensions or defect investigations are resolved.

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.