Chapter

29

Chapter 29: Organic chemicals

42 headings make up chapter 29, part of section VI, products of the chemical or allied industries.

Duty rates compared

UK Free – 6% Third-country duty 1727 tariff lines · average 3.5% · 5× specific or compound duty EU Free – 6.5% Third-country duty 521 tariff lines · average 4.5% · 5× specific or compound duty Türkiye Free – 9.6% Third-country duty 1797 tariff lines · average 4.8% USA Free – 6.5% General (MFN) 1051 tariff lines · average 4.1% · 1× specific or compound duty Canada Free Third-country duty 533 tariff lines Mexico Free – 35% Third-country duty 1003 tariff lines · average 1.3% · 2× specific or compound duty Brazil Free – 20% Third-country duty 1643 tariff lines · average 2.9% Argentina Free – 20% Third-country duty 2601 tariff lines · average 2.2% Peru Free – 6% Third-country duty 746 tariff lines · average 0.1% New Zealand Free – 5% Third-country duty 595 tariff lines · average 0.1% · 1× specific or compound duty Japan Free – 17% Third-country duty 524 tariff lines · average 2.7% Taiwan Free – 6.5% Third-country duty 1015 tariff lines · average 3% GCC Free – 5% Third-country duty 1066 tariff lines · average 4.3% Switzerland Free Third-country duty 449 tariff lines Norway Free Third-country duty 500 tariff lines North Macedonia Free – 6% Third-country duty 570 tariff lines · average 2.3% Nigeria 5% – 10% Third-country duty 416 tariff lines · average 5%

Headings 42

EU: imports by month

last 12 months€104.3bn-4.2% · previous 12 months
Average import price€4.30 per kg
Jan 2024: €7.7bnFeb 2024: €7.1bnMar 2024: €7.6bnApr 2024: €7.9bnMay 2024: €8.2bnJun 2024: €7.6bnJul 2024: €7.1bnAug 2024: €6.3bnSept 2024: €8.3bnOct 2024: €11.4bnNov 2024: €9.4bnDec 2024: €7.4bnJan 2025: €8.2bnFeb 2025: €9.2bnMar 2025: €9.8bnApr 2025: €10.2bnMay 2025: €8.9bnJun 2025: €9.1bnJul 2025: €9.8bnAug 2025: €7.2bnSept 2025: €9.9bnOct 2025: €10.2bnNov 2025: €7.7bnDec 2025: €7bnJan 2026: €7.3bnFeb 2026: €9.3bnMar 2026: €9.4bnApr 2026: €7.4bnMay 2026: €8.9bnJun 2026: €9.1bnJul 2026: €10.8bnAug 2026: €7.4bn 202420252026
Data up to August 2026 (provisional) · Monthly data: Eurostat Comext (CC BY 4.0), HMRC (OGL v3.0)

World trade in 2024

29 · US$479bn

Trade value (US$) no reported trade < US$5mUS$5m+US$320m+US$4bn+> US$23bn

Exports: 209
  1. China: US$92bn
  2. United States: US$52bn
  3. Ireland: US$41bn
  4. Germany: US$29bn
  5. Switzerland: US$29bn
  6. South Korea: US$23bn
  7. India: US$23bn
  8. Netherlands: US$18bn
  9. Belgium: US$17bn
  10. Japan: US$15bn
  11. France: US$14bn
  12. Singapore: US$13bn
  13. Saudi Arabia: US$12bn
  14. Spain: US$9bn
  15. Italy: US$9bn
  16. Taiwan: US$9bn
  17. United Kingdom: US$7bn
  18. Malaysia: US$6bn
  19. Thailand: US$5bn
  20. Canada: US$4bn
  21. Indonesia: US$4bn
  22. Denmark: US$3bn
  23. Kuwait: US$3bn
  24. Sweden: US$3bn
  25. Oman: US$3bn
  26. Austria: US$3bn
  27. Brunei: US$2bn
  28. Brazil: US$2bn
  29. Mexico: US$2bn
  30. Trinidad & Tobago: US$2bn
  31. Hungary: US$2bn
  32. Poland: US$2bn
  33. Russia: US$2bn
  34. South Africa: US$1bn
  35. Norway: US$1bn
  36. Czechia: US$1bn
  37. United Arab Emirates: US$1bn
  38. Iran: US$1bn
  39. Argentina: US$1bn
  40. Israel: US$1bn
  41. Vietnam: US$1bn
  42. Finland: US$1bn
  43. Türkiye: US$934m
  44. Qatar: US$913m
  45. Portugal: US$902m
  46. Hong Kong SAR China: US$771m
  47. Philippines: US$678m
  48. Slovenia: US$495m
  49. Chile: US$471m
  50. Venezuela: US$448m
  51. Lithuania: US$356m
  52. Romania: US$320m
  53. Slovakia: US$306m
  54. New Zealand: US$298m
  55. Egypt: US$286m
  56. Australia: US$261m
  57. Libya: US$226m
  58. Bulgaria: US$226m
  59. Equatorial Guinea: US$225m
  60. Colombia: US$224m

Top exporters

RankCountryValueShare
1 China US$92bn 19.2%
2 United States US$52bn 10.8%
3 Ireland US$41bn 8.6%
4 Germany US$29bn 6.1%
5 Switzerland US$29bn 6.1%
6 South Korea US$23bn 4.9%
7 India US$23bn 4.7%
8 Netherlands US$18bn 3.7%
9 Belgium US$17bn 3.5%
10 Japan US$15bn 3.2%

Top importers

RankCountryValueShare
1 United States US$64bn 13.4%
2 China US$46bn 9.5%
3 Germany US$37bn 7.7%
4 India US$25bn 5.3%
5 Italy US$23bn 4.8%
6 Belgium US$19bn 4%
7 Netherlands US$17bn 3.5%
8 South Korea US$14bn 3%
9 Japan US$14bn 2.9%
10 Brazil US$14bn 2.9%

In the UK Global Tariff, chapter 29 covers 1,727 tariff lines and the duty is between 0% and 6%. 601 of them are duty-free. 5 lines have a specific or compound duty.

The EU Combined Nomenclature divides chapter 29 into 521 tariff lines; the duty is between 0% and 6.5% (average 4.5%). 131 of them are duty-free. 5 lines have a specific or compound duty.

In the Turkish Customs Tariff Schedule, chapter 29 covers 1,797 tariff lines and the duty is between 0% and 9.6%. 364 of them are duty-free.

World trade in chapter 29 goods reached US$479bn in 2024, down 2.7% on 2023.

China was the largest exporter with 19.2% of the total, ahead of the United States.

The United States imported the most (US$64bn).

Chapter notes

Notes

1. Except where the context otherwise requires, the headings of this chapter apply only to:

  1. (a) separate chemically defined organic compounds, whether or not containing impurities;

  2. (b) mixtures of two or more isomers of the same organic compound (whether or not containing impurities), except mixtures of acyclic hydrocarbon isomers (other than stereoisomers), whether or not saturated (Chapter 27);

  3. (c) the products of headings 2936 to 2939 or the sugar ethers, sugar acetals and sugar esters, and their salts, of heading 2940, or the products of heading 2941, whether or not chemically defined;

  4. (d) the products mentioned in (a), (b) or (c) above dissolved in water;

  5. (e) the products mentioned in (a), (b) or (c) above dissolved in other solvents provided that the solution constitutes a normal and necessary method of putting up these products adopted solely for reasons of safety or for transport and that the solvent does not render the product particularly suitable for a specific use rather than for general use;

  6. (f) the products mentioned in (a), (b), (c), (d) or (e) above with an added stabiliser (including an anti-caking agent) necessary for their preservation or transport;

  7. (g) the products mentioned in (a), (b), (c), (d), (e) or (f) above with an added anti-dusting agent or a colouring or odoriferous substance or an emetic added to facilitate their identification or for safety reasons, provided that the additions do not render the product particularly suitable for specific use rather than for general use;

  8. (h) the following products, diluted to standard strengths, for the production of azo dyes: diazonium salts, couplers used for these salts and diazotizable amines and their salts.

2. This chapter does not cover:

  1. (a) goods of heading 1504 or crude glycerol of heading 1520;

  2. (b) ethyl alcohol (heading 2207 or 2208);

  3. (c) methane or propane (heading 2711);

  4. (d) the compounds of carbon mentioned in note 2 to Chapter 28;

  5. (e) immunological products of heading 3002;

  6. (f) urea (heading 3102 or 3105);

  7. (g) colouring matter of vegetable or animal origin (heading 3203), synthetic organic colouring matter, synthetic organic products of a kind used as fluorescent brightening agents or as luminophores (heading 3204) or dyes or other colouring matter put up in forms or packings for retail sale (heading 3212);

  8. (h) enzymes (heading 3507);

  9. (ij) metaldehyde, hexamethylenetetramine or similar substances, put up in forms (for example, tablets, sticks or similar forms) for use as fuels, or liquid or liquefied-gas fuels in containers of a kind used for filling or refilling cigarette or similar lighters and of a capacity not exceeding 300 cm3 (heading 3606);

  10. (k) products put up as charges for fire-extinguishers or put up in fire-extinguishing grenades, of heading 3813; ink removers put up in packings for retail sale, of heading 3824; or

  11. (l) optical elements, for example, of ethylenediamine tartrate (heading 9001).

3. Goods which could be included in two or more of the headings of this chapter are to be classified in that one of those headings which occurs last in numerical order.

4. In headings 2904 to 2906, 2908 to 2911 and 2913 to 2920, any reference to halogenated, sulphonated, nitrated or nitrosated derivatives includes a reference to compound derivatives, such as sulphohalogenated, nitrohalogenated, nitrosulphonated or nitrosulphohalogenated derivatives.

Nitro or nitroso groups are not to be taken as ‘nitrogen-functions’ for the purposes of heading 2929.

For the purposes of headings 2911, 2912, 2914, 2918 and 2922, ‘oxygen function’, the characteristic organic oxygen-containing group of those respective headings, is restricted to the oxygen-functions referred to in headings 2905 to 2920.

5.

(A) The esters of acid-function organic compounds of sub-chapters I to VII with organic compounds of these sub-chapters are to be classified with that compound which is classified in the heading which occurs last in numerical order in these sub-chapters.

(B) Esters of ethyl alcohol with acid-function organic compounds of sub-chapters I to VII are to be classified in the same heading as the corresponding acid-function compounds.

(C) Subject to note 1 to Section VI and note 2 to Chapter 28:

  1. (1) inorganic salts of organic compounds such as acid-, phenol- or enol-function compounds or organic bases, of sub-chapters I to X or heading 2942, are to be classified in the heading appropriate to the organic compound;

  2. (2) salts formed between organic compounds of sub-chapters I to X or heading 2942 are to be classified in the heading appropriate to the base or to the acid (including phenol- or enol-function compounds) from which they are formed, whichever occurs last in numerical order in the chapter; and

  3. (3) coordination compounds, other than products classifiable in sub-chapter XI or heading 2941, are to be classified in the heading which occurs last in numerical order in Chapter 29, among those appropriate to the fragments formed by ‘cleaving’ of all metal bonds, other than metal-carbon bonds.

(D) Metal alcoholates are to be classified in the same heading as the corresponding alcohols except in the case of ethanol (heading 2905).

(E) Halides of carboxylic acids are to be classified in the same heading as the corresponding acids.

6. The compounds of headings 2930 and 2931 are organic compounds the molecules of which contain, in addition to atoms of hydrogen, oxygen or nitrogen, atoms of other non-metals or of metals (such as sulphur, arsenic or lead) directly linked to carbon atoms.

Heading 2930 (organo-sulphur compounds) and heading 2931 (other organo-inorganic compounds) do not include sulphonated or halogenated derivatives (including compound derivatives) which, apart from hydrogen, oxygen and nitrogen, only have directly linked to carbon the atoms of sulphur or of a halogen which give them their nature of sulphonated or halogenated derivatives (or compound derivatives).

7. Headings 2932, 2933 and 2934 do not include epoxides with a three-membered ring, ketone peroxides, cyclic polymers of aldehydes or of thioaldehydes, anhydrides of polybasic carboxylic acids, cyclic esters of polyhydric alcohols or phenols with polybasic acids, or imides of polybasic acids.

These provisions apply only when the ring-position hetero-atoms are those resulting solely from the cyclising function or functions here listed.

8. For the purposes of heading 2937:

  1. (a) the term ‘hormones’ includes hormone-releasing or hormone-stimulating factors, hormone inhibitors and hormone antagonists (anti-hormones);

  2. (b) the expression ‘used primarily as hormones’ applies not only to hormone derivatives and structural analogues used primarily for their hormonal effect, but also to those derivatives and structural analogues used primarily as intermediates in the synthesis of products of this heading.

Subheading notes

1. Within any one heading of this chapter, derivatives of a chemical compound (or group of chemical compounds) are to be classified in the same subheading as that compound (or group of compounds), provided that they are not more specifically covered by any other subheading and that there is no residual subheading named ‘Other’ in the series of subheadings concerned.

2. Note 3 to Chapter 29 does not apply to the subheadings of this chapter.

Questions and answers

What is the HS code for organic chemicals?

Organic chemicals make up HS chapter 29, in section VI of the Harmonized System.

What is the import duty on organic chemicals in the UK?

Under the UK Global Tariff, imports under 29 from countries without a preferential agreement are charged at 0% to 6%, depending on the line. Preferential rates, anti-dumping duties and VAT are not included.

What is the import duty on organic chemicals in the EU?

Under the EU Combined Nomenclature, imports under 29 from countries without a preferential agreement are charged at 0% to 6.5%, depending on the line. Preferential rates, anti-dumping duties and VAT are not included.

Which country exports the most organic chemicals?

China, with US$92bn in 2024 (19.2% of world exports).