Hi everyone, I am from India and I currently live in the UK. Our family has a spice plantation in India and we have a company set up in India with export license which we use to sell to clients in the Middle East countries. Now since I am in UK, I wanted to start a whole spices brand such as Cardamom, Cloves, Cinnamon, Pepper etc. using the yield taken from our own farm in India. I would like to start small by importing a minimum quantity such as 10-20KG of a single whole spice (Cardamom) and sell it on online platforms such as Amazon and eBay and then start our website once we gain some traction. What would be the government implications that I need to follow apart from registering a company? I suppose VAT is not needed unless my turnover crosses £85,000. Since these are whole spices, we import them in bulk and just re-pack them here in the UK and sell it. Does it require a food license too? Thanks in advance for all the help.
Labelling needs to be done. You'd need to deal with local council regarding the preparation facility - food hygiene rules too. Amazon - if the product comes under grocery you will need permission to sell on the platform. Money takes about 3 - 4 weeks to get to your bank account after a sale but of course you send the product to the customer when they purchase.
You are right about VAT. There is no requirement to register under £85k turnover, however, its not a big deal to become VAT registered. If you have a good accountant, they should be able to advise you. We registered before we hit the threshold, so we could do it in a planned way. For food related businesses there is quite a lot of government help and advice. For example many parts of the country have food and drink forums. The Department for International Trade also have specialist trade advisers with knowledge of the food and drink sector. Good luck with your business.
You will need an EORI number for your business here in UK , also each spice has its own customs code which needs to be on the packaging label before arriving in UK. Your family in india will need to obtain import export licence an IEC code to export from India , hope this helps.
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