Wood wool and cement-bonded boards from China

Zero duty

Read from the UK Trade Tariff on 26 September 2026, panels, boards, tiles and blocks of vegetable fibre, straw, or shavings, chips, particles or sawdust of wood, agglomerated with cement, plaster or other mineral binders, heading 6808, carried 0% on goods from China, with no anti-dumping measure and no suspension.

Boards bound with resin instead of a mineral binder are particleboard or fibreboard of chapter 44, covered in our particleboard and OSB guide, and fibre cement boards are in our fibre cement boards guide; confirm the commodity code from the binder. For plaster products, see our plaster coving and plasterboard guide. For concrete wall panels, see our precast concrete wall panels guide.

Standards and declarations

Wood wool insulation and acoustic boards are covered by BS EN 13168 and cement-bonded particleboard by BS EN 634-2. For a declaration of performance and UKCA or CE marking under retained Regulation (EU) No 305/2011, check the applicable designated standard or technical assessment; BS EN 634-2 alone is not the marking standard. The declaration includes the reaction to fire class under BS EN 13501-1. For mineral insulation, see our mineral wool and expanded clay guide.

For acoustic panels, ask for sound absorption measured in a reverberation room by BS EN ISO 354 and rated by BS EN ISO 11654, for the thickness and mounting you will use. Specify board type, thickness, edge profile, surface finish and colour in the product specification.

Worked duty example

For a made-up shipment of 1,500 m² of wood wool acoustic panels under 6808 00 00 00, add the £3,500 of freight and insurance to the £13,500 free-on-board price and customs sees £17,000. Duty on wood wool panels is zero, leaving import VAT of £3,400, 20% of the customs value. For a VAT-registered buyer that is a cash-flow cost rather than a lasting one. The duty and VAT guide walks through the calculation.

Inspection checklist

Declaration and fire class: check the declaration of performance names the exact board and thickness under BS EN 13168 or BS EN 634-2, and that the fire class and acoustic rating in it match what the project specified.

Dimensions and density: measure length, width, thickness and squareness of sampled boards against the tolerance class in the standard, weigh boards to check density against the declaration, and check edges and corners for crumbling.

Moisture and finish: measure moisture content of sampled boards before loading, check painted faces for colour and coverage against the approved sample, and check boards are stacked flat on pallets, wrapped against rain and protected at the edges.

What goes wrong

Mineral-bound boards fail on moisture, breakage and paperwork. Boards packed damp swell or grow mould, edges and corners crumble in transit, density runs below the declaration so acoustic or fire performance falls, painted colour varies between batches, and boards arrive without a declaration of performance or with a fire class tested on a different thickness.

Check the declaration for the exact product, weigh and measure samples, check moisture before loading, and photograph pallet wrapping and stowage at container loading.

Cambridge China Bridge sources wood wool acoustic panels and cement-bonded boards for contractors, acoustic installers and merchants, usually by the container because boards are heavy for their value. See our container programmes.

Related guides: Plaster coving and plasterboard from China.