Sourcing tungsten products from China

0% duty

Read from the UK Trade Tariff on 26 September 2026, tungsten powders, unwrought tungsten including bars and rods obtained simply by sintering, tungsten wire, waste and scrap, bars, rods, profiles, plates, sheets, strip and foil, and other articles of tungsten carried 0% duty on goods from China, with no anti-dumping measure. Tungsten carbide, tungsten ores and tungsten carbide tools classify elsewhere, so confirm the commodity code. Re-checked on 27 September 2026 across all 8 leaves: every line is 0%, and the tariff also shows an anti-dumping registration measure on 8101 99 10 00 (bars, rods, profiles, plates, sheets, strip and foil) from 3 August 2024 for products consigned from Laos and Thailand, linked to a retained circumvention investigation under which registered imports can face retroactive anti-dumping duty. It is not listed for goods consigned directly from China, so route and consignment country matter.

Grades, standards and reporting

Pure tungsten plate, sheet and foil are commonly specified to ASTM B760, and tungsten heavy alloys, the dense tungsten-nickel-iron or tungsten-nickel-copper parts used for counterweights and radiation shielding, to ASTM B777, which sets classes by tungsten content and density. State the purity or class, density, dimensions and tolerances, surface finish and whether parts must be non-magnetic.

Tungsten is one of the 3TG conflict minerals. Great Britain has no import law equivalent to the EU conflict minerals regulation, but many electronics and aerospace customers ask for a Conflict Minerals Reporting Template and smelter details, so agree that paperwork before ordering. Importers of powders or substances at one tonne or more a year need a UK REACH position. For cobalt procurement, see our cobalt metal and powders sourcing guide.

Worked duty example

An invented example rather than a quote: 500 kg of tungsten rods and plates, commodity code 8101 99 10 00, bought for £30,000 free on board, with £800 of freight and insurance, so £30,800 is the value customs works from. No duty is due on tungsten rods and plates; import VAT at 20% of £30,800 is £6,160. If you are VAT-registered, that VAT is normally reclaimable. See calculating UK import duty and VAT for the method.

Inspection checklist

Density and class: density of heavy-alloy parts measured by the Archimedes method of ASTM B311 against the class ordered under ASTM B777, pure tungsten plate and sheet checked against ASTM B760, and hardness measured on samples by a Rockwell method to ISO 6508-1 where the drawing specifies it.

Soundness and composition: plates and rods checked for laminations and internal cracks by ultrasonic testing, composition analysed by XRF or ICP against the certificate, powders checked for oxygen and particle size, and parts that must be non-magnetic checked with a permeability meter.

Dimensions and traceability: critical dimensions and flatness measured against the drawing, surfaces inspected for chips and cracks from machining, lot numbers matched to the mill certificate, and the smelter named for conflict-mineral reporting checked against the list of conformant smelters the customer uses.

What goes wrong

Tungsten fails on density, purity and cracking. Heavy-alloy parts come in under the density of their class because of porosity, pure tungsten plate is laminated or cracked from rolling, and brittle rods chip or break when machined. Powder carries more oxygen or impurities than the certificate states, and grades are substituted so a cheaper alloy is supplied against an order for pure tungsten.

Measure density on samples by the Archimedes method, check composition with XRF or a laboratory analysis, inspect plate and rod for cracks and laminations with dye penetrant or ultrasonic testing, check dimensions and flatness, ask for a certificate of analysis per lot with oxygen content for powder, and ask for the smelter information customers will need.

Cambridge China Bridge sources tungsten wire, rods, plates, heavy-alloy parts and powder, with density, purity and certificates agreed before shipment. Read how we source specialist metals. For other specialist metals, see our gallium, germanium and minor metals guide. For tantalum procurement, see our tantalum powder, sheet and wire guide. For titanium procurement, see our titanium products sourcing guide.