HS codes for tree nuts — and why the roasted pack costs more at the border

Last verified: 20 September 2026. Duty rates below are drawn from the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States, Revision 19 (2026), and are shown to illustrate structure. Your duty is set by your destination's tariff, not by the US one.

Six digits are international. Everything after that is not.

The Harmonized System is administered by the World Customs Organization, and its first six digits are common to every member country. A shelled almond is subheading 0802.12 whether it is landing in Rotterdam, Jebel Ali or Nhava Sheva. Digits seven onward are national: the United States adds four to make a ten-digit HTS number, the EU adds two to make an eight-digit CN code, India adds two to make an eight-digit ITC(HS) number.

So when a buyer and a supplier disagree about "the HS code," they are usually both right and talking about different lengths of the same number. Agree the six digits; let each side's broker handle the rest.

Heading 0802: the raw nuts

Heading 0802 reads: "Other nuts, fresh or dried, whether or not shelled or peeled." That phrase — whether or not shelled or peeled — is doing real work. Shelling does not move a nut out of the heading, and neither does removing the skin. Blanched almonds are still 0802.12.

Pecans are the one that trips people up. There is no dedicated six-digit HS subheading for pecans — they fall into the residual 0802.99 and are only broken out at national level. A buyer whose broker cannot find "pecans" in the six-digit list has not made a mistake; the line genuinely is not there.

Notice the in-shell / shelled gap

In the US tariff above, shelled almonds carry roughly three times the in-shell rate, and shelled walnuts nearly four times. That pattern — kernel dearer than in-shell — recurs in most tariffs, because importing countries protect their own shelling industry. It is the arithmetic behind a fact that surprises new exporters: several large importing markets prefer to buy nuts in shell and crack them locally, and the duty structure is a large part of why.

Whether that arithmetic favours in-shell for you depends on the kernel yield of the lot and on the ocean freight you pay to ship shell across the world. Both belong in the calculation, and both are specific to the lot and the route.

Roasting moves the goods to heading 2008

Chapter 8 permits some processing without losing the classification. Chapter 8 Note 3 allows dried nuts to be partially rehydrated or treated "(a) For additional preservation or stabilization (for example, by moderate heat treatment, sulfuring, the addition of sorbic acid or potassium sorbate), (b) To improve or maintain their appearance (for example, by the addition of vegetable oil or small quantities of glucose syrup), provided that they retain the character of dried fruits or dried nuts."

Roasting a nut to make it a snack is not preservation or stabilisation, and the product does not retain the character of a dried nut. It moves into Chapter 20 — and Chapter 20's own Note 1(a) confirms the boundary from the other side, excluding from that chapter any "vegetables, fruit or nuts, prepared or preserved by the processes specified in chapter 7, 8 or 11."

The destination heading is 2008: "Fruit, nuts and other edible parts of plants, otherwise prepared or preserved, whether or not containing added sugar or other sweetening matter or spirit, not elsewhere specified or included." Tree nuts other than peanuts land in subheading 2008.19, "Other, including mixtures."

What that costs — and why the direction is not always the same

Using the US tariff again purely to show the structure:

Three lessons sit in that table.

• "Processed always costs more" is folklore, not a rule. In the US schedule it is true for almonds and false for pecans, pistachios and hazelnuts. Check your destination's actual lines rather than assuming.
• Mixing nuts changes the rate basis. A mixed pack goes to a mixtures line, and in the US schedule that line is ad valorem — so the duty now scales with the invoice value, and an expensive retail pack pays more duty than a cheap bulk one for the same weight. Under a specific per-kilogram rate it would not.
• Retail packs pay duty on the pack. Under an ad valorem rate the printed pouch, the seasoning and the brand are all inside the dutiable value.

The boundaries around 2008 that catch people

• Sugar-coated and chocolate-coated nuts are not 2008 at all. Chapter 20 Note 2 expressly excludes "sugar-coated almonds or the like in the form of sugar confectionery (heading 1704) or chocolate confectionery (heading 1806)." A chocolate-panned almond is confectionery, at confectionery rates.
• Almond flour and meal are not 0802. They move to heading 1106.30, "flour, meal and powder of the products of chapter 8."
• Salted or dry-roasted with nothing added is still 2008.19. The addition of salt is not what moves the goods; the roasting is.
• Sliced, slivered and diced raw almonds are generally handled as Chapter 8 goods, since cutting is neither preparation nor preservation — but this is a boundary where national practice varies. If it is a material part of your volume, get a binding ruling from your own customs authority rather than relying on a supplier's opinion.

The EU's 2026 quota treats both headings as one pool

Regulation (EU) 2026/1455 of the European Parliament and of the Council, published in the Official Journal on 30 June 2026 and applying from 1 July 2026, opened tariff quotas on a range of US-origin goods. Annex III, quota order number 09.9005, covers:

• CN 0802 — "Other nuts, fresh or dried, whether or not shelled or peeled"; and
• CN 2008 19 — "Nuts and other seeds, including mixtures, prepared or preserved (excluding groundnuts)"

at an in-quota rate of 0%, with a quota volume of 500,000 tonnes. Article 2 provides that quota volumes apply for consecutive twelve-month periods, the first beginning 1 July 2026, and that the volumes are managed by the Commission and member states under the tariff-quota management system in Implementing Regulation (EU) 2015/2447. The regulation ceases to apply at the end of 2029, with a Commission assessment due by 30 June 2029.

Two practical consequences for a buyer importing US nuts into the EU:

• Raw and prepared draw on the same 500,000 tonnes. One order number, one pool, allocated on the usual first-come-first-served basis. Classification decides which line you declare, not which quota you queue in.
• Duty is not the constraint on a nut container into the EU — aflatoxin is. A zero in-quota rate does nothing for a consignment that fails the EU maximum levels. See aflatoxin limits by market.

What to put on the enquiry

If you want a quotation that classifies cleanly, tell the exporter the product form as well as the product: raw / blanched / roasted / roasted and seasoned, single nut or mixture, and bulk carton or retail pack. Those three answers determine the heading, and the heading determines the duty line your broker will enter. Deciding them after the artwork is approved is an expensive way to learn this article.

Sources

• Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States, Revision 19 (2026), Chapter 8 (heading 0802, Notes) and Chapter 20 (Notes 1, 2 and 3; heading 2008 and subheading 2008.19). Rates shown are the "General" column. hts.usitc.gov
• Regulation (EU) 2026/1455 of the European Parliament and of the Council, OJ L, 30 June 2026 — Article 2 (opening of tariff quotas, twelve-month periods from 1 July 2026) and Annex III, point 5, order number 09.9005 (CN 0802 and CN 2008 19; in-quota rate 0%; quota volume 500,000 t). eur-lex.europa.eu
• World Customs Organization, Harmonized System nomenclature — the six-digit international structure. wcoomd.org

More from this series

• Almond sizes explained
• Almond grades: SSR, Fancy, Extra No. 1
• Aflatoxin limits by market
• The export document set