What the UK imports from China: value, £ per kg and duty by product heading
UK imports from China were £65.42bn in the 12 months from July 2025 to June 2026, up 4.3% on the 12 months before. The largest HS4 product headings in UK imports from China over the last four published quarters, with the import duty each one carries. Built by Cambridge China Bridge from HMRC's trade statistics and the UK Trade Tariff, and rebuilt automatically every month.
July 2025 to June 2026, compared with July 2024 to June 2025
- UK imports from China, 12 months
- £65.42bn
- Share in the top 40 headings
- 60.5%
- Top headings with China anti-dumping or countervailing duty
- 5 / 40
What stands out
- UK imports from China were £65.42bn in the 12 months from July 2025 to June 2026, up 4.3% on the 12 months before.
- The 40 largest product headings made up 60.5% of that, £39.60bn. The largest was Motor cars and other motor vehicles principally designed for the… at £5.87bn.
- Among them, Structures and parts of structures grew fastest, up 191.1% to £892m; Footwear with outer soles and uppers of rubber or plastics fell furthest, down 18.7% to £298m.
- Value per kilogram ran from £1.96 for Semiconductor devices to £372.41 for Telephone sets.
- 11 of the 40 headings carry 0% standard third-country duty on every commodity code checked, with no steel-measure flag.
- The highest rate in the table is up to 16%, on Products containing tobacco, reconstituted tobacco, nicotine, or….
- 17 of the 40 headings have an autonomous tariff suspension on some codes. The range shown is the standard rate; the suspended rate can be lower.
- 5 of the 40 headings, worth £3.31bn between them, include at least one commodity code with anti-dumping or countervailing duty against China.
The 40 largest headings
The duty shown is the standard UK third-country (MFN) rate, the rate that applies to goods from China, as the range across the heading's declarable commodity codes. Preferential, tariff suspension or quota rates may be lower, and anti-dumping or countervailing duty is charged on top where it applies. Since 1 July 2026 the UK steel trade measure charges 50% outside quota on in-scope steel lines; headings where the tariff shows it are flagged. The rate for a specific product needs its 10-digit commodity code.
| Heading | Product | Value, 12 months | Change | £ per kg | Third-country duty | China trade remedy |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8703 | Motor cars and other motor vehicles principally designed for the… | £5.87bn | +70.9% | £9.11 | 4%–10%suspensions on 33 codes; the suspended rate can be lower | None found |
| 8517 | Telephone sets | £5.63bn | +8.6% | £372.41 | 0% | None found |
| 8471 | Automatic data-processing machines and units thereof | £4.59bn | −1.2% | £187.76 | 0% | None found |
| 9403 | Furniture and parts thereof, n.e.s. | £1.56bn | −2.7% | £2.04 | 0%–4% | None found |
| 8507 | Electric accumulators | £1.43bn | −2.6% | £9.89 | 0%–2%suspensions on 11 codes; the suspended rate can be lower | None found |
| 9401 | Seats, whether or not convertible into beds, and parts thereof, n.e.s. | £1.39bn | +2.4% | £3.67 | 0%–4%suspensions on 2 codes; the suspended rate can be lower | None found |
| 9503 | Tricycles, scooters, pedal cars and similar wheeled toys | £1.18bn | −9.4% | £7.03 | 0%–4%suspensions on 2 codes; the suspended rate can be lower | None found |
| 8516 | Electric instantaneous or storage water heaters and immersion heaters | £1.01bn | −8.5% | £5.26 | 2%–4%suspensions on 6 codes; the suspended rate can be lower | Duty: 2 of 32 codes |
| 7308 | Structures and parts of structures | £892m | +191.1% | £2.19 | 0% | None found |
| 8411 | Turbojets, turbopropellers and other gas turbines | £858m | +9.4% | £247.52 | 0% | None found |
| 9504 | Video game consoles and machines, table or parlour games | £842m | −14.5% | £20.45 | 0%–2% | None found |
| 9405 | Luminaires and lighting fittings | £824m | −7.5% | £7.95 | 2%–4% | None found |
| 2404 | Products containing tobacco, reconstituted tobacco, nicotine, or… | £767m | +11.1% | £23.20 | 0%–16% | None found |
| 4202 | Trunks, suitcases, vanity cases, executive-cases, briefcases, school… | £711m | −10.3% | £6.64 | 2%–8% | None found |
| 8708 | Parts and accessories for tractors, motor vehicles for the transport… | £688m | −12.0% | £3.61 | 0%–4%suspensions on 53 codes; the suspended rate can be lower | Duty: 4 of 137 codes |
| 9506 | Articles and equipment for general physical exercise, gymnastics,… | £632m | +8.5% | £2.79 | 0%–4% | None found |
| 8504 | Electrical transformers, static converters | £628m | +1.9% | £16.30 | 0% | None found |
| 8544 | Insulated incl. enamelled or anodised wire, cable incl. coaxial cable… | £621m | +4.0% | £8.31 | 0%–2%suspensions on 16 codes; the suspended rate can be lower | Duty: 1 of 41 codes |
| 3926 | Articles of plastics and articles of other materials of heading 3901… | £603m | +1.6% | £4.32 | 0%–6%suspensions on 12 codes; the suspended rate can be lower | None found |
| 4011 | New pneumatic tyres, of rubber | £591m | −6.8% | £2.16 | 4%–4.5%suspensions on 1 codes; the suspended rate can be lower | Duty: 1 of 10 codes |
| 8518 | Microphones and stands therefor | £569m | −1.5% | £30.78 | 0% | None found |
| 8536 | Electrical apparatus for switching or protecting electrical circuits,… | £558m | +5.9% | £12.62 | 0%–2%suspensions on 20 codes; the suspended rate can be lower | None found |
| 8528 | Monitors and projectors, not incorporating television reception… | £552m | −15.1% | £22.85 | 0%–14%suspensions on 3 codes; the suspended rate can be lower | None found |
| 6110 | Jerseys, pullovers, cardigans, waistcoats and similar articles,… | £511m | +5.4% | £14.76 | 10%–12% | None found |
| 8481 | Taps, cocks, valves and similar appliances for pipes, boiler shells,… | £510m | −6.2% | £9.11 | 2%suspensions on 40 codes; the suspended rate can be lower | None found |
| 8418 | Refrigerators, freezers and other refrigerating or freezing… | £505m | +7.9% | £3.18 | 0% | None found |
| 8467 | Tools for working in the hand, pneumatic, hydraulic or with… | £446m | −3.8% | £11.00 | 0%–2% | None found |
| 8302 | Base metal mountings, fittings and similar articles suitable for… | £433m | −2.6% | £4.10 | 0%suspensions on 1 codes; the suspended rate can be lower | None found |
| 8541 | Semiconductor devices | £413m | +10.5% | £1.96 | 0% | None found |
| 8431 | Parts suitable for use solely or principally with the machinery of… | £392m | +23.3% | £1.97 | 0%–4%suspensions on 2 codes; the suspended rate can be lower | Duty: 4 of 32 codesincludes provisional anti-dumping duty |
| 8508 | Vacuum cleaners | £388m | −1.5% | £8.92 | 0%–2% | None found |
| 8414 | Air or vacuum pumps | £369m | +26.5% | £7.07 | 0%–2%suspensions on 11 codes; the suspended rate can be lower | None found |
| 8543 | Electrical machines and apparatus, having individual functions,… | £359m | +8.9% | £38.84 | 0%–4%suspensions on 8 codes; the suspended rate can be lower | None found |
| 9404 | Mattress supports | £347m | +1.3% | £3.15 | 2% | None found |
| 8525 | Transmission apparatus for radio-broadcasting or television, whether… | £345m | +28.6% | £58.74 | 0% | None found |
| 9505 | Festival, carnival or other entertainment articles | £342m | +8.5% | £5.60 | 0%–2% | None found |
| 6204 | Women's or girls' suits, ensembles, jackets, blazers, dresses,… | £334m | +0.5% | £22.65 | 12% | None found |
| 3923 | Articles for the conveyance or packaging of goods, of plastics | £317m | +0.1% | £3.10 | 0%–6%suspensions on 3 codes; the suspended rate can be lower | None found |
| 6402 | Footwear with outer soles and uppers of rubber or plastics | £298m | −18.7% | £9.05 | 16% | None found |
| 3304 | Beauty or make-up preparations and preparations for the care of the… | £290m | −10.2% | £8.53 | 0% | None found |
Product descriptions are HMRC's, shortened to their lead phrase. Each heading code links to its entry on the UK Trade Tariff.
Work out duty and VAT for your product →
Check a commodity code for anti-dumping duty →
Quarter-on-quarter movements: the UK–China Import Pulse →
Reading £ per kg next to duty
Freight is charged on space and weight, so low-value, bulky headings lose more margin to shipping than to duty, and suit full containers better than small trial orders. For high-value, dense goods the duty rate is often the larger cost. Neither figure is a landed cost: that depends on the product's own commodity code, its customs value and the freight.
Method and sources
- Trade figures: HMRC overseas trade statistics, UK imports from China (non-EU imports), from HMRC's public trade data API. The 12 months are the latest four calendar quarters HMRC has fully published, compared with the four quarters before them.
- Values are in pounds sterling as HMRC records them. £ per kg is value divided by net mass. Confidential and unclassified lines (chapter 99) are excluded.
- Duty: every declarable 10-digit commodity code under each heading is read from the UK Trade Tariff API. The range is the lowest and highest standard ERGA OMNES third-country duty that is a plain percentage. Codes whose duty is a specific or compound amount are counted separately, and authorised-use codes with no third-country rate are left out of the range.
- UK steel trade measure: a code is treated as in scope when its third-country duty has a blank rate (the measure sets 50% outside quota through conditions), or a measure reaching China carries a steel or safeguard footnote or the 9Y16 transitional document code. Such codes are never shown as 0%. Other chapter 72 and 73 headings are flagged "check" rather than counted as duty-free.
- Suspensions: codes with an autonomous tariff suspension (measure types 112 and 115, including those that need a document code) are counted. The range stays the standard rate; the suspended rate can be lower.
- Trade remedies: a heading shows "duty" when at least one code carries an anti-dumping or countervailing duty whose geographical area is China, and "registration only" when the only such measures are registrations, which charge no duty. Duty rates depend on the Chinese exporter, so none is shown.
- If any code under a heading cannot be read, the page shows no range for that heading and links to the Trade Tariff instead.
- HMRC revises recent months and the tariff changes; the page is rebuilt monthly from both sources.
- The UK steel trade measure (from 1 July 2026) applies to specific steel commodity codes; where the tariff shows it on a heading's codes, the table flags it.
HMRC trade data· UK Trade Tariff
Journalists and researchers may quote these figures with a link to this page. For comment on what they mean for UK buyers, contact us.
Cite as: Cambridge China Bridge, "What the UK imports from China, by product heading", 12 months to June 2026, https://camchinabridge.co.uk/uk-imports-from-china-by-category/. Contains HMRC and UK Trade Tariff data licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
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