Vegetable saps and extracts; pectic substances, pectinates and pectates; agar-agar and other mucilages and thickeners, whether or not modified, derived from vegetable products (heading 1302): importing markets

Fact sheet

Code

1302

Chapter

13 · Lac; gums, resins and other vegetable saps and extracts

Subheadings

9

What to know before exporting heading 1302

Heading 1302 belongs to chapter 13 of the Harmonized System, which groups lac, gums, resins and other vegetable saps and extracts. It has 9 subheadings. The heading includes products as different as plant extracts, pectin and agar-agar, so the first step is to classify the product at subheading level.

Classification matters because duties, import requirements and statistics are set per subheading, not per heading. Beyond the first six digits, each destination adds its own national digits. The same product can therefore carry a different code and a different duty depending on the market.

The table above shows that demand is concentrated. The United States imports more than twice as much as Germany, the second market, and Germany imports almost twice as much as France. Several of the large importers are in the European Union: Germany, France, Spain, the Netherlands, Italy and Poland. For a company exporting from Spain, these are sales within the single market, with no customs duty between member states.

For markets outside the EU, such as the United States, China, South Korea, Japan, Canada, the United Kingdom, Mexico, Brazil and Australia, the duty depends on the subheading and on whether a trade agreement between the EU and the destination applies. It is checked per product and destination in Access2Markets, which also lists import requirements and rules of origin.

Importing countries report with a delay, so the figures reflect declared imports from the world, not Spanish exports. They show where the demand is, not how easy it is to enter or how much competition there is. Before choosing a market, compare these volumes with the requirements for your specific product.

Many products in this heading are used as ingredients in food, pharmaceutical or cosmetic applications. In that case, the requirements often depend on the end use and not only on the customs code. Check them with the importer and the competent authority of the destination before the first shipment.