Edible oil · guide
There is no single HS code for edible oil. The tariff assigns each oil its own heading, then splits it again by how far it has been processed, so the correct code depends on which oil you sell and in what condition.
| Market | Imports | Year |
|---|---|---|
| United States | $17.2B | 2024 |
| India | $16.8B | 2024 |
| China | $12.6B | 2024 |
| Netherlands | $8.6B | 2024 |
| Italy | $7.0B | 2024 |
| Spain | $5.8B | 2024 |
| Market | Exports | Year |
|---|---|---|
| Indonesia | $26.9B | 2024 |
| Malaysia | $18.7B | 2024 |
| Spain | $8.9B | 2024 |
| Argentina | $7.2B | 2024 |
| Netherlands | $6.8B | 2024 |
| Ukraine | $5.8B | 2024 |
Figures are for the whole of HS chapter 15 (animal or vegetable fats and oils). Source: UN Comtrade.
Chapter 15 of the Harmonized System is titled animal or vegetable fats and oils. The oils that most buyers mean by edible oil are spread across several four-digit headings, each named for a source: 1507 soya-bean oil, 1508 groundnut oil, 1509 olive oil, 1511 palm oil, 1512 sunflower, safflower and cottonseed oil, 1514 rape, colza and mustard oil, and 1515 a group of other fixed vegetable or microbial fats and oils.
Because the chapter also covers animal fats and non-edible oils, the trade totals for chapter 15 are not a pure edible oil figure. In 2024 customs data the United States imported $17.2B and India $16.8B of chapter 15 goods, and Indonesia exported $26.9B, but a share of those values is not cooking oil. Keep that in mind whenever you use the chapter as a proxy.
Under most headings the first split is between crude oil and oil other than crude. Soya-bean oil is 150710 when crude, whether or not degummed, and 150790 when it is other than crude, whether or not refined, but not chemically modified. Groundnut oil follows the same pattern as 150810 and 150890, and palm oil as 151110 and 151190.
Sunflower and safflower oil are 151211 crude and 151219 other than crude, while cottonseed oil is 151221 and 151229 by the same logic. So a refiner buying crude and a supermarket buying bottled refined oil are shipping different subheadings of the same heading, which matters for duty and for statistics.
Olive oil, heading 1509, is subdivided by grade rather than by crude versus refined alone. The listed subheadings include 150910 virgin olive oil, 150920 extra virgin olive oil, 150930 virgin olive oil, 150940 other virgin olive oils and 150990 olive oil other than virgin. The distinction depends on production and quality characteristics, and virgin grades are defined by how the oil is obtained and by its analytical parameters.
That means the quality certificate and the customs declaration have to tell the same story. If your lab report supports a lower grade than the one on your invoice, you have a classification problem as well as a commercial one.
Rape, colza and mustard oil sits under 1514, with subheadings that separate low erucic acid oil (151411 crude, 151419 other than crude) from other oils (151491 crude, 151499 other than crude), plus the broader 151410 crude oil and 151490 other lines that appear in national versions of the tariff. The erucic acid content is a chemical property, so classification here depends on a laboratory result, not only on the product name.
Heading 1515 is where many specialised oils end up: 151511 and 151519 for linseed oil, 151521 and 151529 for maize oil, 151530 castor oil, 151540 tung oil, 151550 sesame oil, 151560 microbial fats and oils and 151590 for others. Castor and tung oil are mainly industrial products, which is another reason a chapter total says little about cooking oil demand.
Blends are the most frequent trap. A mixture of two oils, or of oil with other ingredients, may not fit any single-oil subheading and may belong to a different heading altogether. Packaging is another: oil in small retail packs is still classified by the oil, but sprays, capsules or flavoured dressings may not be. Hydrogenated and other chemically modified fats belong in a neighbouring heading rather than in 1507 to 1515.
Words on the label do not decide the code. Classification follows the goods and the heading text, read with the chapter notes, so use your specification and lab report as the basis and ask a customs broker or the classification service of your customs authority when the product is on the boundary.
The first six digits are common to the countries that use the Harmonized System. Beyond that each country adds its own extension, usually to eight or ten digits, and that is where duty rates, statistical splits and certain import conditions are attached. Two exporters with the same six-digit code can therefore face different duty on different national lines.
Never take a duty rate from a six-digit table. Confirm the current national tariff line and the applicable duty, including any preferential rate you may claim under a trade agreement, with the destination customs authority or a licensed broker. Rules and rates change, so the check has to be recent.
The same code that you put on the declaration is the key to customs shipment data. Search it to see which companies import, how often, in what quantities, from which origins and at what declared value. Searching at chapter level returns everything from castor oil to lard, so narrow to the subheading for your oil, and if you sell refined and crude oil, run the two codes separately.
Compare what you find with the country totals. If a market ranks high in the chapter data but shows few records for your subheading, the chapter value is probably driven by another oil. That check saves you from targeting a market that is large only for a product you do not sell.
There is no single code. Vegetable oils fall in chapter 15: soya-bean oil under heading 1507, groundnut under 1508, olive under 1509, palm under 1511 and sunflower under 1512. The subheading then depends on whether the oil is crude or not.
Palm oil is heading 1511. Crude palm oil is 151110, and palm oil other than crude, whether or not refined but not chemically modified, is 151190. Confirm the national eight-digit line with your customs broker before filing.
Olive oil is under heading 1509, split by grade, including 150920 for extra virgin and 150990 for oil other than virgin. The grade on your declaration should be supported by the analytical and quality evidence on your certificate.
A blend may not fit any single-oil subheading and can fall under a different heading. Do not choose a code by the dominant oil alone. Ask a customs broker or your customs authority for a classification opinion before you ship.
No. The six-digit code is only the start. Duty attaches to the national tariff line, which adds digits and can carry preferential rates. Confirm the current rate for your destination with its customs authority or a licensed broker.
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