Honey; natural (heading 0409): importing markets
HS heading 0409 covers natural honey and sits in chapter 04. In 2025 the United States was the largest importer in UN Comtrade data, with 690,582,365…
Published on 7 October 2026Updated on 7 October 2026
HS heading 0409 covers natural honey and sits in chapter 04. In 2025 the United States was the largest importer in UN Comtrade data, with 690,582,365 USD, ahead of Germany (255,846,375 USD) and Japan (150,561,309 USD). For a company exporting from Spain, the right market depends on the destination's import rules, not only on its volume.
Source: UN ComtradeData for 2025Verified on 7 October 2026
Fact sheet
- Code
- 0409
- Chapter
- 04 · Dairy produce; birds' eggs; natural honey; edible products of animal origin, not elsewhere specified or included
- Subheadings
- 1
Main importing markets
USD · 2025| Country | Imports (USD) |
|---|---|
| United States | 690,582,365 |
| Germany | 255,846,375 |
| Japan | 150,561,309 |
| United Kingdom | 130,247,218 |
| France | 111,993,762 |
| Italy | 89,947,976 |
| Spain | 76,627,628 |
| Saudi Arabia | 70,046,155 |
| Netherlands | 64,680,820 |
| Belgium | 58,783,598 |
| Poland | 55,568,945 |
| Canada | 52,468,846 |
| China | 48,297,196 |
| Switzerland | 42,744,452 |
| Australia | 32,753,342 |
Imports declared by each country from the world. Countries report with a delay: the period is the latest with consolidated data.
Source: UN ComtradeData for 2025Verified on 7 October 2026
What to know before exporting natural honey from Spain
Heading 0409 is a single heading with one subheading, so the classification itself is rarely the hard part. The code identifies natural honey within chapter 04. The tariff and the documents required depend on the destination, and on the exact national tariff line used there, which can go beyond the six digits of the Harmonized System.
The table shows demand, not accessibility. The United States imports far more than any other country listed, and the gap with Germany is nearly threefold. Imports are what each country declares from the world, so the figures do not say how much of that comes from Spain or how competitive a Spanish supplier would be.
Tariffs depend on the destination and on the agreements in force. For a company exporting from Spain, the EU is the starting point: Germany, France, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, Belgium and Poland are inside the single market, so there is no customs duty on intra-EU trade. For the other markets, the duty applicable to your product, and whether a preferential agreement applies, is checked in Access2Markets by entering the code and the destination.
Import requirements for food products, such as health certification, labelling and origin rules, are set by each destination. They are not the same in the United States, Japan, Saudi Arabia or Switzerland. Check them in Access2Markets for the destination and, for the Spanish side of the export, with the official export services of ICEX and your regional agency.
The latest year with consolidated data is 2025, and countries report with a delay. Some figures may therefore differ from the final ones. For a decision on where to focus, compare several years in UN Comtrade before relying on a single one.
Frequently asked questions
Which country imports the most natural honey?
Among the markets in the UN Comtrade data for 2025, the United States is the largest importer of heading 0409, with 690,582,365 USD. Germany follows with 255,846,375 USD and Japan with 150,561,309 USD. These are the imports each country declares from the world.
Do I pay duty when exporting honey from Spain to Germany?
For a company exporting from Spain, trade with Germany is intra-EU, so no customs duty applies at the border. Other obligations, such as VAT declarations and food labelling rules, still apply and depend on the type of sale.
How do I find the tariff for honey in a non-EU market?
The duty depends on the destination, the national tariff line and any agreement with the EU. It is looked up in Access2Markets by entering the product code and the destination country. The result also lists the import requirements for that market.
Does the import figure tell me how much honey a market buys from Spain?
No. The table shows what each country imports from the world, not from Spain. To see the share held by Spanish exporters in a given market, check the bilateral flows for heading 0409 in UN Comtrade.
Is heading 0409 divided into subheadings?
In the data of this page, heading 0409 has a single subheading. National tariff lines in the destination country may add further digits, so the code used at customs can be longer than the six-digit HS code.
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