HS code lookup
Cloves have a heading all to themselves, 0907, which makes them one of the simpler spices to classify. The only real decision is whole versus milled.
| HS code (6-digit) | Official description |
|---|---|
| 0907.10 | Spices; cloves (whole fruit, cloves and stems), neither crushed nor ground |
| 0907.20 | Spices; cloves (whole fruit, cloves and stems), crushed or ground |
The first six digits are the same worldwide. Countries add their own further digits, and duty, licensing and statistics follow the national line, so confirm it in the destination tariff before quoting. Source: UN Comtrade HS nomenclature.
Heading 0907 is titled cloves, whole fruit, cloves and stems. Two subheadings do the work: 090710 for neither crushed nor ground and 090720 for crushed or ground. The heading also appears as a bare 090700 in some older schedules, which is why data sets sometimes show all three.
There are no sibling spices to disambiguate. The nearest neighbours are the nutmeg, mace and cardamom heading before it and the ginger, saffron and turmeric heading after, and neither shares lines with cloves.
The heading text explicitly includes whole fruit, cloves and stems, so clove stems, the stalks left after picking, are covered along with the dried flower buds. Mother cloves, the fully ripened fruit, are also in the heading. The grade and the stem content belong to the contract rather than the tariff.
Clove oil is a distilled essential oil and moves to the essential-oil chapter. Ground cloves are 090720, and cloves in pickling or curry mixtures are classified as a blend. Cloves used in cigarettes or perfumery are still cloves on entry, though the product they end up in is not.
A search on 090710 lists importers of whole cloves, often traders, grinders and packers, while 090720 lists those buying ready powder. Because this heading is uncluttered, the data is unusually clean and a country’s total across the two lines is a good proxy for its clove demand.
Rules for pesticide residues, moisture and admixture vary by destination and are separate from the tariff line. Confirm the current eight-digit national line, duty and food-safety requirements with the destination customs authority.
Whole cloves are classified under 090710 and crushed or ground cloves under 090720, both in heading 0907.
The heading covers whole fruit, cloves and stems, so stems are included. Show the stem content on the invoice.
No. Clove oil is a distilled essential oil and is classified in a different chapter from the spice itself.
It is a heading-level entry used in some older or national schedules. The current six-digit split is 090710 for whole and 090720 for ground.
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