Sourcing weaving looms from China

0% duty

Read from the UK Trade Tariff on 27 September 2026, weaving machines (looms), heading 8446, carried 0% on goods from China on all four lines, for narrow fabrics up to 30 cm and for wider fabrics with or without shuttles, with no anti-dumping measure.

Knitting and embroidery machines are in heading 8447 (see our knitting and embroidery machines guide), and loom parts and accessories such as healds, reeds and dobbies are classified under 8448. Confirm the commodity code from the fabric width and weft insertion.

Machinery rules

Each loom placed on the UK market must meet the essential health and safety requirements of the Supply of Machinery (Safety) Regulations 2008, with a declaration of conformity, marking and instructions in English. Looms are covered by BS EN ISO 11111-6 for fabric manufacturing machinery, with common requirements in part 1.

Weaving sheds are loud, so ask for the declared noise emission of the loom model, and plan the shed's own noise control; air-jet looms also need a compressed air supply sized for the whole shed.

Specifying a loom

Specify reed width, weft insertion type and speed, number of weft colours, shedding (cam, dobby or electronic jacquard), fabric types and yarn counts, beam size, take-up and let-off, air or water consumption, control and design software, voltage and supply, and the parts kit of healds, reeds and droppers.

Worked duty example

An invented example rather than a quote: 10 air-jet weaving looms, commodity code 8446 30 00 00, bought for £180,000 free on board, with £12,000 of freight and insurance, so £192,000 is the value customs works from. No duty is due on weaving looms; import VAT at 20% of £192,000 is £38,400. If you are VAT-registered, that VAT is normally reclaimable. See calculating UK import duty and VAT for the method.

Inspection checklist

Weaving trial: weave your own yarn and design at the factory and check fabric width, pick density, defects and stop rate at the quoted speed over an agreed run.

Safety and noise: check guards and interlocks on the sley, shedding and take-up against BS EN ISO 11111-6, test every emergency stop, and check the declared noise emission for the model.

Documents and parts: check the declaration of conformity, English manuals, air or water consumption data and spares list, and check looms are braced and protected for sea freight.

What goes wrong

Looms fail on speed, stops and consumption. Looms run slower or stop more often on your yarn than on the factory's, air-jet looms use more compressed air than quoted, electronic parts and jacquard heads are hard to replace, and machines arrive with corrosion from poor sea packing.

Trial with your own yarn, confirm air and power consumption, and check packing before shipment. See our quality inspection guide.

Cambridge China Bridge sources looms for UK and overseas weavers and label makers, checking the builder's references and test weaving before an order. See factory verification.