Sorbitol Hs Code

Sorbitol harmonized system code

Product Overview Sorbitol, classified under HS Code 290544, is a polyhydric alcohol derived primarily through the catalytic hydrogenation of glucose obtained from starch hydrolysis. It appears as a crystalline or granular substance, typically white or colorless, with a sweet taste and hygroscopic properties. Sorbitol under this classification is supplied in varying grades including pharmaceutical, food-grade, and industrial-grade, each adhering to stringent purity criteria—commonly exceeding 70% sorbitol content by weight with moisture levels controlled below 3%. This product is characterized by its chemical stability, solubility in water, and non-cariogenic nature. The HS Code 290544 encompasses sorbitol in its pure form and in aqueous solutions, with subcategories distinguishing between technical and refined grades. Commercially, sorbitol is widely utilized as a sugar substitute, humectant, texturizing agent, and sweetener in food production, confectionery, pharmaceuticals, and cosmetic formulations. Its non-fermentable properties and low glycemic index position it competitively within health-conscious and diabetic-friendly product markets, offering importers and manufacturers a reliable ingredient that meets diverse industrial processing requirements. HS Code Classification & Trade Specifications The complete HS Code 290544 is structured as follows: Chapter 29 (Organic Chemicals), Heading 2905 (Acyclic Alcohols and Their Halogenated, Sulphonated, Nitrated, or Nitrosated Derivatives), Subheading 290544 (Sorbitol). This classification is justified by sorbitol’s chemical composition as a six-carbon sugar alcohol, aligning with the nomenclature and tariff segmentation established by the Harmonized System Convention. For international trade, sorbitol is commonly packaged in hermetically sealed multiwall paper bags, polyethylene-lined bulk bags, or food-grade drums, with net weights ranging from 25 to 1000 kilograms to preserve product integrity and prevent moisture ingress. Storage conditions require cool, dry environments to maintain stability and prevent caking. Quality standards conform to ISO 9001 and relevant Codex Alimentarius specifications, ensuring compliance with WTO rules and facilitating customs clearance. Documentation must detail the product’s grade, origin, chemical analysis, and conformity to permissible additive limits. Such precise classification and handling protocols support efficient customs processing, tariff application, and regulatory adherence for global importers, exporters, and trade compliance professionals.

Sorbitol Chapter Note

1.- Except where the context otherwise requires, the headings of this Chapter apply only to : (a) Separate chemically defined organic compounds, whether or not containing impurities; (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); (c) The products of headings 29.36 to 29.39 or the sugar ethers, sugar acetals and sugar esters, and their salts, of heading 29.40, or the products of heading 29.41, whether or not chemically defined; (d) The products mentioned in (a), (b) or (c) above dissolved in water; (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 specific use rather than for general use; (f) The products mentioned in (a), (b), (c), (d) or (e) above with an added stabiliser (including an anticaking agent) necessary for their preservation or transport; (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; (h) The following products, diluted to standard strengths, for the production of azo dyes : diazonium salts, couplers used for these salts and diazotisable amines and their salts. 2.- This Chapter does not cover : (a) Goods of heading 15.04 or crude glycerol of heading 15.20; (b) Ethyl alcohol (heading 22.07 or 22.08); (c) Methane or propane (heading 27.11); (d) The compounds of carbon mentioned in Note 2 to Chapter 28; (e) Immunological products of heading 30.02; (f) Urea (heading 31.02 or 31.05); (g) Colouring matter of vegetable or animal origin (heading 32.03), synthetic organic colouring matter, synthetic organic products of a kind used as fluorescent brightening agents or as luminophores (heading 32.04) or dyes or other colouring matter put up in forms or packings for retail sale (heading 32.12); (h) Enzymes (heading 35.07); (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 36.06); (k) Products put up as charges for fire-extinguishers or put up in fire-extinguishing grenades, of heading 38.13; ink removers put up in packings for retail sale, of heading 38.24; or (l) Optical elements, for example, of ethylenediamine tartrate (heading 90.01). 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 29.04 to 29.06, 29.08 to 29.11 and 29.13 to 29.20, 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 29.29. For the purposes of headings 29.11, 29.12, 29.14, 29.18 and 29.22, “oxygen function”, the characteristic organic oxygen-containing group of those respective headings, is restricted to the oxygen-functions referred to in headings 29.05 to 29.20.5.- (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) Inorganic salts of organic compounds such as acid-, phenol- or enol-function compounds or organic bases, of sub-Chapters I to X or heading 29.42, are to be classified in the heading appropriate to the organic compound; (2) Salts formed between organic compounds of sub-Chapters I to X or heading 29.42 are to be classified in the heading appropriate to the base or to the acid (including phenol- or enolfunction compounds) from which they are formed, whichever occurs last in numerical order in the Chapter; and (3) Co-ordination compounds, other than products classifiable in sub-Chapter XI or heading 29.41, 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 metalcarbon bonds. (D) Metal alcoholates are to be classified in the same heading as the corresponding alcohols except in the case of ethanol (heading 29.05). (E) Halides of carboxylic acids are to be classified in the same heading as the corresponding acids. 6.- The compounds of headings 29.30 and 29.31 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 29.30 (organo-sulphur compounds) and heading 29.31 (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 29.32, 29.33 and 29.34 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 29.37 : (a) the term “hormones” includes hormone-releasing or hormone-stimulating factors, hormone inhibitors and hormone antagonists (anti-hormones); (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.