Yeast and baking powder from China

Zero duty, zero-rated VAT

Read from the UK Trade Tariff on 26 September 2026, active yeasts, including culture yeast and dried or other baker's yeast, inactive yeasts and other dead single-cell micro-organisms, and prepared baking powders of heading 2102 carried 0% duty on goods from China, with no anti-dumping measure. Yeast and baking powder sold as food ingredients are zero-rated for VAT under VAT Notice 701/14.

Yeast extracts and spreads are food preparations of heading 2106, and yeast for feeding animals has its own lines within the heading. Confirm the commodity code from whether the yeast is active, dried or inactive and what it is for.

Additives, labels and feed

Baking powder is a blend of raising agents such as sodium bicarbonate (E 500) with an acid such as disodium diphosphate (E 450), often with starch, so each additive must be authorised and meet its purity criteria on the FSA food additive authorisations register, and aluminium-containing raising agents are restricted. Retail packs need a name, ingredients with additive functions, net quantity, date mark and a UK food-business address for sale in Great Britain, or a Northern Ireland or EU food-business address for direct imports into Northern Ireland.

Yeast destined for animal feed or pet food follows feed law instead of food law and takes the feeding lines of the tariff. Brewing and distilling yeasts are bought by strain and performance data, so ask for the strain name and a certificate of analysis for each lot. If also buying barley, see our barley sourcing guide. For drink filtration supplies, see our diatomite sourcing guide. For beverage packaging, see our glass beverage bottle sourcing guide.

Worked duty example

A hypothetical order, not a quote: 10 tonnes of instant dry baker's yeast in vacuum packs under 2102 10 31 00, bought for £30,000 free on board with £2,000 of freight and insurance, so the customs value is £32,000. Duty is 0%, and yeast and baking powder sold as food ingredients are zero-rated for VAT, so no import VAT is due and the landed cost before clearance fees is £32,000. Yeast sold as pet food would be standard-rated instead. See UK import duty and VAT for the method. This assumes the goods are standard-rated for VAT. Most food for human consumption is zero-rated, and animal feed can be too, in which case no import VAT is due, so check the rate for your product in HMRC's VAT Notice 701/14.

What goes wrong

Yeast fails on activity and baking powder on reaction. Vacuum packs that leak let in air and moisture, and dried yeast loses much of its gassing power over a hot voyage; the dry matter is lower than the specification; wild yeast, moulds or bacteria contaminate the lot; baking powder cakes or reacts early in humid storage; and date codes are short on arrival.

Test each lot for dry matter, gassing power or dough rise against the specification, total viable count, moulds and pathogens such as Salmonella, check vacuum-pack integrity on sampled cartons, test baking powder for available carbon dioxide and caking, check date codes and labels, and ask for a container temperature record on summer shipments.

Cambridge China Bridge sources instant dry yeast, nutritional yeast and baking powder for bakeries, food manufacturers and wholesalers, with activity testing and shelf life agreed before shipment. See our container programmes. For bakery mixing bowls, see our guide to sourcing stainless steel mixing bowls. For food colourant procurement, see our guide to sourcing natural colours and dyes. For bakery toppings, see our guide to sourcing food-service mini marshmallows. If also buying creamer, see our non-dairy creamer sourcing guide.