Cane or beet sugar and chemically pure sucrose, in solid form (heading 1701): importing markets

Fact sheet

Code

1701

Chapter

17 · Sugars and sugar confectionery

Subheadings

6

What to know before exporting sugar under heading 1701

Heading 1701 sits in Chapter 17, sugars and sugar confectionery, and is divided into 6 subheadings. The subheading is the first decision: it separates raw sugar from refined sugar and cane from beet. Everything else in the export file follows from it.

The ranking of importers is broad. In 2024, imports declared by the 15 largest buyers in the table range from about USD 0.6 billion to USD 2.4 billion. Asia, North Africa and the Middle East account for most of the names, with the United States, Canada, Italy and Spain also present. That means there is no single obvious market, and the choice depends on the type of sugar you produce.

The duty depends on the subheading, the destination and the agreement in force. For a company exporting from Spain, the customs duty applied in each destination is checked on Access2Markets, which lists tariffs, rules of origin and requirements by product and country. Sugar is often a sensitive product in trade agreements, so do not assume that a preferential rate applies without checking it.

Import conditions can go beyond the tariff: quotas, licences, quality or labelling requirements and sanitary rules vary by market. Check them in the same tool before quoting a price, because they decide whether a shipment can enter and at what cost.

Spain and Italy appear among the importers in the table. For a company exporting from Spain, shipments to another EU country follow intra-EU trade rules and not an export customs procedure. Shipments to non-EU destinations do require an export declaration, which is handled through the Spanish customs authority (AEAT).

Frequently asked questions