Spices · guide
There is no single HS code for spices. Each spice family has its own heading in chapter 09, and the subheading often depends on whether the spice is whole or crushed and ground.
| Market | Imports | Year |
|---|---|---|
| United States | $11.7B | 2024 |
| Germany | $6.5B | 2024 |
| France | $4.0B | 2024 |
| Italy | $3.4B | 2024 |
| Canada | $2.4B | 2024 |
| Spain | $2.2B | 2024 |
| Market | Exports | Year |
|---|---|---|
| Brazil | $11.8B | 2024 |
| India | $5.2B | 2024 |
| Vietnam | $4.7B | 2023 |
| Germany | $4.5B | 2024 |
| Switzerland | $3.9B | 2024 |
| China | $3.6B | 2024 |
Figures are for the whole of HS chapter 09 (coffee, tea, mate and spices). Source: UN Comtrade.
Chapter 09 covers coffee, tea, mate and spices, and the spices are grouped into headings 0904 to 0910. Your first classification step is to find the botanical family. Pepper and capsicum go under 0904, vanilla under 0905, cinnamon under 0906, cloves under 0907, nutmeg, mace and cardamoms under 0908, seeds such as coriander, cumin, caraway, fennel, anise and juniper under 0909, and ginger, saffron, turmeric, thyme, bay leaves, curry and other spices under 0910.
Trade figures on this site are for the whole of chapter 09, coffee and tea included, so they cannot tell you the value of a single spice. For that you have to search at heading or subheading level in customs shipment records.
For most spices the six-digit code splits on processing: neither crushed nor ground, or crushed or ground. Pepper of the genus Piper is 090411 when whole and 090412 when crushed or ground. Dried capsicum and pimenta fruits split into 090421 for whole and 090422 for crushed or ground, with 090420 as the parent grouping. Cinnamon whole falls under 090611 for Ceylon type and 090619 for others, with crushed or ground cinnamon in 090620.
The test is physical. If the spice has been milled, flaked or broken into powder, it moves to the crushed-or-ground subheading. Simple cleaning, sorting and drying do not change the classification, but grinding does, and duty and inspection treatment often differ between the two.
Cloves are 090710 whole and 090720 crushed or ground. Nutmeg is 090811 whole and 090812 ground, mace is 090821 and 090822, and cardamoms are 090831 and 090832. The seeds heading has more branches: coriander is 090921 whole and 090922 crushed or ground, and cumin is 090931 and 090932. Anise, badian, caraway and fennel seeds and juniper berries fall under 090961 or 090962 depending on form.
Two traps here. Cardamom sits with nutmeg and mace, not with the seeds, even though it is a seed pod. And fennel is grouped with anise and caraway in the seeds heading, so do not search 0909 for cardamom or 0908 for fennel.
Heading 0910 collects spices that have no heading of their own. Ginger is 091011 whole and 091012 crushed or ground. Saffron is 091020, turmeric is 091030, thyme and bay leaves are 091040, and curry is 091050. Mixtures of two or more products of different spice headings are 091091, and other spices not elsewhere specified are 091099.
Blends are where classification mistakes concentrate. A curry powder falls under curry, but a seasoning that combines spices with salt, dried vegetables or other ingredients may leave chapter 09 altogether and belong in a food preparations heading. Ask for the recipe and check the legal text before filing.
Vanilla sits under heading 0905, with 090510 for vanilla neither crushed nor ground and 090520 for crushed or ground. The list also shows 090500 as the heading-level entry, and which one a country uses depends on how its tariff was structured. Confirm this against the destination’s tariff instead of assuming that six digits are enough.
Saffron is a small-volume, high-value spice with a single code, which makes it easy to classify but easy to mis-describe if blended with cheaper material. Always describe the product accurately on the invoice.
The first six digits are shared internationally. Each country adds two or more to make its own tariff line, and that is where duty rates, statistical units and inspection rules are attached. A shipment of whole pepper can therefore be treated differently from a shipment of ground pepper, and one country may split a six-digit subheading into several national lines by grade or use.
Confirm the national line with the destination customs authority or the importer’s broker, and check current duty and import conditions rather than relying on old invoices.
Exporters should also keep a short classification file for every spice they ship: the product description, the process it went through, a photograph or specification sheet, and the code chosen with the reason. If customs later questions the declaration, that file settles the argument faster than an email chain, and it makes the next shipment of the same spice quick to file.
Once you have the code, use it to search customs shipment records. Searching 090411 will show consignees importing whole pepper, while 090932 will show ground cumin importers. Read the consignee, quantity, declared value, origin and ports. Also search neighbouring codes, because shippers sometimes file the same spice under different subheadings, and ground and whole lots may appear separately.
For market orientation, the biggest chapter 09 importers in 2024 were the United States at $11.7B, Germany at $6.5B, France at $4.0B, Italy at $3.4B, Canada at $2.4B and Spain at $2.2B, all including coffee and tea.
There is no single code. Spices sit in headings 0904 to 0910 of chapter 09, grouped by botanical family, and most subheadings split further into whole and crushed or ground forms.
Pepper of the genus Piper, neither crushed nor ground, is 090411. Crushed or ground pepper is 090412. Chilli and paprika-type capsicum fruits are classified separately, under 0904 subheadings such as 090421 and 090422.
They are in heading 0909. Coriander is 090921 whole and 090922 ground, cumin is 090931 whole and 090932 ground, and fennel is grouped with anise, badian and caraway under 090961 or 090962.
Mixtures of two or more products from different spice headings fall under 091091. A blend containing salt, dried vegetables or other ingredients may leave chapter 09, so check the recipe against the legal text.
No. Countries add digits for their own tariff, and duty and inspection rules attach at that level. Confirm the national line with the destination customs authority or the importer's broker.
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