China
UK trade laneFoshan is the centre of China's furniture trade: Shunde district, home to the Lecong furniture market and thousands of factories around it, makes much of the upholstered seating, beds, dining and bedroom furniture that British retailers, online brands, hotel groups and contractors buy. Duty is rarely the issue: most finished furniture is duty-free under the UK Global Tariff, and the UK has no anti-dumping measure on Chinese furniture. What catches importers out is the rulebook — the Furniture and Furnishings (Fire) (Safety) Regulations 1988 for upholstered domestic furniture, timber due diligence under the UK Timber Regulations, general product safety, and import VAT.
Our own office in Foshan sits inside that cluster. Our team visits factories, checks goods, fire-safety labels and test reports against your specification, consolidates several suppliers into one container and supervises loading with photographs. In the UK we work through a WCA partner agent — AGF has no office in Britain — whose customs agent clears the goods under your EORI number and delivers to your door, and AGF's Europe Representative also covers the UK.
Last reviewed:
Shipping Furniture from China to UK
Furniture is volume cargo, so the 40ft High Cube is the standard box: as a planning guide it holds roughly 250–300 stacking chairs, and far fewer pieces of assembled upholstered furniture. Knock-down and flat-pack designs multiply what fits, so settle the packing with the factory before production. Consolidating several Foshan suppliers into one container is usually cheaper than separate LCL shipments, each with its own handling charges at both ends.
Routing is the main timing variable. Via the Suez Canal, South China to Felixstowe, Southampton or London Gateway typically takes about four to five weeks port to port; on a service that still sails around the Cape of Good Hope, allow roughly five to six weeks, more if the UK is not its first European call. Carriers are moving services back to Suez one loop at a time, so we confirm the routing of each sailing when we book it. From the port, containers go by truck, or by rail to the Midlands and the North of England.
- 40ft High Cube for full loads; consolidation across Foshan suppliers
- Knock-down and flat-pack designs to raise the number of pieces per container
- Felixstowe, Southampton or London Gateway, then road or rail to the Midlands and the North
- Wooden pallets and crates debarked, heat-treated or fumigated and ISPM 15-marked
- Loading supervised and photographed by our Foshan team
What Drives the Cost
- Cubic volume, and how well the designs nest or knock down
- Routing — Suez or the Cape — and seasonal space before Lunar New Year
- Fire-safety testing of covers, fillings and composites, and the permanent labels
- Ordinary duty on the lines that carry it — kitchen furniture, furniture parts and mattresses; most other finished furniture is duty-free
- Import VAT at 20%, which a VAT-registered importer can account for through postponed VAT accounting
- Delivery to distribution centres, stores or project sites
HS Codes and Duty Notes
Classification guidance only — duty rates change and depend on your exact product. Codes are confirmed with the licensed customs representative at destination before you ship.
| HS Code | Products | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 9401 | Seats — upholstered sofas and chairs, sofa beds, dining, office and contract seating | The main seating lines are duty-free under the UK Global Tariff. Upholstered domestic seating must meet the 1988 fire regulations. Seats are not on the UK Timber Regulations product list. |
| 9403.30 – 9403.60 | Wooden furniture — office, kitchen, bedroom, dining and living room | Office, bedroom, dining and living-room lines are duty-free; kitchen furniture carries ordinary duty. All of these are in scope of the UK Timber Regulations, so the importer needs timber due diligence. |
| 9403.10 / 9403.20 / 9403.70 | Metal and plastic furniture | Duty-free under the UK Global Tariff and outside the UK Timber Regulations' product list. Loose steel or aluminium shipped for assembly is classified separately. |
| 9403.91 / 9403.99 | Furniture parts — panels, frames, legs, components | Unlike most finished furniture, parts carry ordinary duty. Wooden parts are in scope of the UK Timber Regulations. |
| 9404.21 / 9404.29 | Mattresses | Carry ordinary duty. Domestic mattresses and bed bases are covered by the fire regulations, though they do not need the permanent label. |
Regulations and Compliance
Furniture and Furnishings (Fire) (Safety) Regulations 1988
Upholstered furniture for domestic use — sofas, armchairs, beds and headboards, cushions, and furniture supplied in rented homes — must have cover fabrics, fillings and composites that pass the regulations' ignition tests, and new furniture carries a permanent label. Since 30 October 2025, amending regulations have taken certain baby and young children's products out of scope and dropped the display (swing) label; the permanent label remains. A wider reform built around a smoulder test, meant to reduce chemical flame retardants, was consulted on from 31 March to 23 June 2026; the government has not yet published its response, so test to the current regulations and watch for transition dates. Contract furniture for hotels, offices and public buildings sits outside these regulations, and buyers normally specify the BS 7176 standard instead.
UK Timber Regulations
Wooden furniture under headings 9403.30–9403.60, wooden furniture parts and plywood are on the product list of the UK Timber Regulations, which apply in Great Britain. The business that first places them on the GB market must run a due-diligence system: information on species, quantity, supplier and country of harvest, an assessment of the risk that the timber was illegally harvested, and mitigation until that risk is negligible. Seats under heading 9401 are not on the list. The information has to come from the Chinese factory and its timber suppliers, so ask for it with the order.
Product safety: GB and Northern Ireland
Consumer furniture in Great Britain falls under the General Product Safety Regulations 2005: only safe products may be placed on the market, and producers must be able to identify and trace them and act on problems. The EU's General Product Safety Regulation applies only in Northern Ireland. In March 2026 the government consulted on replacing the 2005 regulations under the Product Regulation and Metrology Act 2025, with a framework broadly aligned with the EU's and new duties for online marketplaces; until it legislates, the 2005 rules apply. Furniture with motors or lighting — power recliners, lit headboards — is also electrical equipment, which needs UKCA or CE marking and the importer's name and postal address on the product or, where it will not fit, its packaging.
EORI, duty and import VAT
Your business needs a GB EORI number, and your UK customs agent declares the goods using it. Most finished furniture is duty-free under the UK Global Tariff, while kitchen furniture, furniture parts and mattresses carry ordinary duty. Import VAT at 20% is charged on the customs value — which in the UK includes freight and insurance to the UK border — plus duty and delivery costs to the first UK destination. A VAT-registered importer can use postponed VAT accounting to declare and reclaim it on the same VAT return; the choice is made on the declaration and cannot be changed afterwards.
Trade remedies: none on furniture — check what ships with it
As of October 2026 the UK has no anti-dumping measure on Chinese furniture or plywood, unlike the EU, which has applied anti-dumping duty to Chinese hardwood plywood since November 2025. The Trade Remedies Authority does run its own cases on Chinese goods — ceramic tableware, ironing boards and steel products among them — and steel faces quotas with a steep out-of-quota tariff. These make goods heavily tariffed rather than banned, and they matter if tableware, homewares or loose steel travel in the same container, so we check every commodity code at quoting.
Packaging EPR and modern slavery reporting
A UK business with a turnover of £1 million or more that imports or supplies more than 25 tonnes of packaging a year — cartons, foam, film — has packaging extended producer responsibility duties: data reporting, and for large producers (over £2 million and 50 tonnes) waste disposal fees as well. The UK has no forced-labour import ban, but companies with a turnover of £36 million or more must publish an annual modern slavery statement covering their supply chains.
Wood packaging (ISPM 15)
Wooden pallets, crates and dunnage entering Great Britain must be made of debarked wood, heat-treated or fumigated, and carry the ISPM 15 mark; a certificate cannot replace the mark. Packaging can be checked at the border or inland, and non-compliant packaging can be rejected or destroyed, so write the requirement into your purchase contract.
Door-to-Door Shipping Service
We start with your order and the UK documents it needs: fire-safety test reports and permanent labels for upholstered domestic furniture, timber due-diligence information for wooden furniture, and your GB EORI and VAT details.
Our Foshan team checks samples and production against your specification and the labels, consolidates the suppliers' goods, and makes sure wooden packaging carries the ISPM 15 mark.
We supervise and photograph loading and prepare the export declaration and the goods descriptions and commodity codes that the carrier's UK safety and security declaration depends on.
The container sails to Felixstowe, Southampton or London Gateway, via Suez or the Cape — we confirm the routing of your sailing when we book it.
Our WCA partner agent's customs agent clears the goods as your representative under your EORI number, with postponed VAT accounting if you are VAT-registered; AGF's Europe Representative, who also covers the UK, coordinates with the partner.
The partner delivers by truck, or by rail to the Midlands and the North of England, to your warehouse, stores or project site.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does it cost to ship furniture from China to the UK?
Is there import duty on furniture from China to the UK?
What fire safety rules apply to furniture imported into the UK?
Do I need timber due diligence for furniture from China?
How long does shipping furniture from China to the UK take?
Do you ship furniture from China to the UK DDP?
Furniture is just one example. AGF ships whatever your business moves — on this lane and beyond. If your commodity isn't covered by one of our guides, tell us what you ship and we'll build the logistics around it.
USA Office
DDC — Authorized Representative in Kazakhstan
Europe — Achot Baghdasarian