Sourcing wooden wine boxes from China

Duty on wooden wine packing boxes

Read from the UK Trade Tariff on 30 September 2026, wooden cases, boxes and similar packings under 4415 10 10 00 carry 0% duty from China. The supplied tariff record shows no anti-dumping or countervailing duty and no suspension. Heading 4415 also covers other wooden packing; see the wooden pallets and crates guide.

The tariff attaches a CITES import control. For wine boxes made from CITES-controlled timber, check the species and applicable documentation before ordering. GOV.UK requires a permit for moving a CITES specimen into Great Britain and corresponding documentation from the country of export. Confirm the requirements for the actual timber with your customs broker.

The table shows wine-box variants within the same packing line, rather than separate commodity codes. Decorative wooden gift or storage articles can fall outside this heading. Confirm the commodity code using the construction, intended use and photographs, rather than relying on the supplier's description of a wine gift box.

Specify the bottle fit and box construction

Send the factory the actual bottle or an agreed drawing, including its widest body, shoulder, neck and closure. Specify usable internal space, divider positions, lid clearance and whether the box must protect bottles during transport or present them at sale. Agree timber species, solid wood or plywood construction, board thickness, joint design, lid style, hinges, catches and handles.

Approve a physical sample for engraving position, print colour, finish, lining and opening action. Check that the bottle label does not rub against the divider and that the closure clears the lid. Specify carton protection for corners and fittings, and agree moisture and appearance acceptance criteria with the factory.

Ask your customs broker to confirm whether empty wooden packing boxes placed on the Great Britain market as products are subject to timber legality due diligence. Gather species, harvest country and legality records, assess the risk and retain the supporting file. Also confirm whether packaging used exclusively to carry another product is outside that timber-regulation scope.

Ask your customs broker to confirm the applicable treatment and marking requirements for solid wood packaging used to carry goods from China into Great Britain. Confirm the construction and any exemption with your broker rather than assuming the words gift box settle the question. Consumer wine boxes sold in Great Britain must also be safe in normal or reasonably foreseeable use.

Worked duty example

Illustrative example, not a quote: 2,000 empty hinged-lid wooden wine packing boxes, illustrative order under 4415 10 10 00, invoiced at £18,000 free on board, with £3,500 of freight and insurance to the UK. The customs value is £21,500. Duty at 0% is £0. Import VAT at 20% is charged on the customs value plus duty, £21,500, so it is £4,300. 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

Bottle fit: insert the agreed bottles with their labels and closures, close the lid and check divider retention, clearance and removal.

Lids and fittings: operate sliding lids, hinges and catches; check handle attachments under the intended filled load and look for exposed screws or nails.

Wood and finish: check moisture against the agreed specification, splits, splinters, mould, glue squeeze-out, coating transfer and engraving against the approved sample.

Packing and records: open cartons from across the batch, check corner protection and damaged fittings, and match the timber records and any required treatment marks to the shipment. Arrange quality inspection before dispatch.

What goes wrong

A box can match the outside dimensions yet fail to fit the intended bottle. Dividers pinch labels, sliding lids jam after moisture changes, hinges pull out of thin panels and rope handles loosen under load. Coatings can mark labels, while damp wood develops mould or distorts during shipping.

Keep an approved filled sample and compare production against it before shipment. Check usable internal dimensions and fitting attachments, rather than appearance alone. Resolve species substitutions and missing legality records before dispatch, and inspect arriving cartons before moving the stock into normal storage.

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.