An Indian factory, not a UK stockist
Our group has pressed plywood in Perumbavoor, Kerala since 1986. The units are about 40 km from Cochin Port, so a container stuffs at the factory and gates in at the Vallarpadam terminal the same day. We sell FOB Cochin: we manufacture, pack, clear the goods for export and load them on board, and you or your forwarder carry the ocean leg to the UK port you nominate.
That is worth stating plainly, because it is the difference between buying from us and buying from a UK importer's yard. There is no British warehouse behind this page and no local stock. What you get instead is factory pricing, a specification agreed before the panels are pressed, and a loading plan built to the container's weight limit rather than to a merchant's pallet count.
The United Kingdom is one of several lanes we run out of Cochin. The rest are on the export hub, and the mechanics of an order — who does what, and when — are set out in how we handle an export order.
What we ship to the United Kingdom
Two kinds of buyer use this lane: importers and merchants buying panels, and exporters buying the packaging their own goods travel in. On face veneer our face-veneer guide is worth reading before you specify: European inspectors are stricter on face-veneer cosmetic defects than Middle East or African inspectors, and the guide's advice for a Northern European buyer is to default to an okoume or birch face rather than gurjan.
| Product | Typical use | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Packing-grade plywood, MR (IS 303) | Cases, crating, industrial packing | Typical thicknesses 6, 8, 12, 15 and 18 mm. Okoume face on request. |
| Commercial and BWR plywood | Furniture, shopfitting, joinery | Calibrated E1 panels with an okoume face and eucalyptus core, bare or HPL-laminated. |
| Plywood boxes and crates | Export packing for machinery and project cargo | Built under an ISPM-15 compliant process; solid-wood members heat-treated and IPPC-stamped. |
| Plywood and timber pallets | Freight and warehouse handling | 1200 x 1000 mm ISO and 1200 x 800 mm Euro footprints are the usual sizes. |
| Marine plywood (IS 710 BWP) | Boatyards, wet-duty work | Quoted on enquiry. |
| Film-faced shuttering plywood | Concrete formwork, repeated pours | Specified per project; full details on the product page. |
A deep-sea voyage changes the bond you should be asking for. On long lanes we quote BWR for routine dry cargo and BWP where the consignment is high-value or the cargo is sensitive to condensation over several weeks at sea.
Origin data, certification and emission class
Buyers increasingly ask about origin before they ask about price, and the answer should arrive with the quote rather than after the shipment. For UK-bound orders we supply the same origin pack we prepare for European buyers: species and country of harvest for the timber in the panel, faces and cores both, and legality documentation for harvest and trade in the country of origin. Much of what we press is plantation timber — rubberwood above all — grown as an agricultural crop and replanted on a cycle, which traces to plots far more readily than mixed natural-forest material.
We do not hold a single certification that covers everything we sell; each mill holds its own licences. If your tender needs FSC chain of custody, a Declaration of Performance, or a stated formaldehyde class such as E1, tell us at enquiry. It decides which mill the order is placed with, and it cannot be added after the panels are pressed. Original certificates are submitted on request. The registrations you can verify yourself, without asking us, are listed on our company verification page.
On the conformity-marking route for panels sold into Great Britain for construction use: CE marking is still accepted, and not as an allowance with an expiry date on it — the government settled that on 2 September 2024, after the Morrell-Day review, and undertook to give at least two years’ notice before changing it. UKCA marking runs alongside as a valid parallel route rather than a replacement. Which route your project wants is a question for your own compliance adviser against the specification; tell us the answer at enquiry, because the Declaration of Performance and the declared formaldehyde class have to come from the mill that presses the panels.
Terms, currency and paperwork
Export quotes are issued in USD. FOB Cochin is our default term; a CIF figure to your nominated UK port is available on request, priced against current freight. We do not publish rates. Each quote is built against your thickness, size, grade and quantity, and the reply goes out within one business day.
Standard products ship against 50 percent advance with the balance before dispatch; custom specifications are 100 percent advance. We accept bank transfer (T/T). Every shipment carries our material guarantee: the panel that arrives matches the spec sheet quoted.
Plywood panels are processed wood and exempt from ISPM-15, so bare sheets need no heat-treatment stamp. Solid-wood packaging is treated: we heat-treat at registered facilities and stencil the IPPC mark, country code IN, treatment code HT and the registered facility number, which is the standard for exports to the EU, the UK and most other destinations we ship to.
Import essentials for the UK
What your customs agent needs to land a plywood shipment in the UK. We quote FOB Cochin in USD; duty and VAT are added at import by your agent.
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| HS code | 4412 (the item within 4412.31 / 4412.33 / 4412.34 / 4412.39 turns on panel construction and individual ply thickness as well as face species, and finished cases, pallets and drums are generally considered under 4415 — your broker confirms the line) |
| Customs duty | The UK Global Tariff (MFN) rate on HS 4412 plywood is 6% ad valorem, confirmed directly on HMRC’s own Trade Tariff tool for the 4412.33 and 4412.39 subheadings. The UK–India trade agreement (CETA) entered into force on 15 July 2026, and for one specific plywood code (4412 3400 10) the same tool shows a 0% preferential rate for India-origin goods, conditional on a valid certificate or statement of origin under the agreement’s rules of origin — without that proof, the 6% MFN rate is what customs will charge. Whether that 0% preference reaches every plywood subheading is not yet confirmed on the government’s own pages, so treat 6% as the safe planning figure and have your broker verify the live rate, CETA eligibility included, against CWI’s exact 10-digit code before final costing. |
| VAT at import | UK import VAT is 20%, the standard rate, unchanged since 2011. It is charged on the customs value of the goods plus customs duty (and freight and insurance where these form part of that value) — not on CIF alone before duty is added. Postponed VAT accounting, where you use it, remains a matter for your own UK VAT registration. |
| Landed-cost note | Indicative only — your broker must confirm the destination tariff line and the rates in force. Import VAT is not charged on CIF alone: the base is the customs value plus customs duty, and local law may add fees and other incidental charges. |
| Origin data | Species and country of harvest for faces and cores, plus legality documentation for harvest and trade in the country of origin, issued with the quote. |
| Conformity / standards | CE marking continues to be accepted for construction products, plywood included, on the Great Britain market — not as an expiring allowance but indefinitely, following the UK government’s 2 September 2024 decision after its Morrell-Day review, with a guaranteed minimum two years’ notice before any future change. UKCA marking remains available as a valid parallel route. We can supply a Declaration of Performance and a declared formaldehyde class where the order is placed with a mill that holds them — named at enquiry, not added later. |
| Clears at | The UK port you nominate. We sell FOB Cochin, so the discharge port is your forwarder's choice. |
| Typical transit | 23 days port to port from Cochin to Felixstowe on published FCL schedules, or around 31 days to London Gateway — the only Cochin-specific figures available, and consistent with the wider 20–28 day range quoted for the nearby Nhava Sheva–Felixstowe lane. Since Red Sea disruption pushed most carriers onto the Cape of Good Hope routing, actual transit is commonly running longer than the published schedule — into the mid-30s to 40 days on this corridor. Ask the export desk to confirm against the routing your forwarder actually books, since that decides the real figure far more than any published schedule does. |
| Documents we provide | Commercial invoice, packing list, certificate of origin, bill of lading. Phytosanitary certificate where the destination requires one. |
| ISPM-15 | Panels exempt; assembled crates and pallets heat-treated and stamped through a compliant process |