HS Code Detail
180620 Chapter 18 · Chocolate Chocolate preparations in bulk over 2 kg
Six-digit subheading in Chocolate, chapter 18 of the Harmonized System, priced here for 5 destination markets.
Anatomy of 180620
You will declare against a longer local code that begins 180620: ten digits in the United States, eight in the European Union, and the first six the same everywhere. Which trailing digits apply is what the 5 rates below differ on.
What this code covers
Import duty by country
MFN duty rate · 5 countries| Country | Duty | VAT | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🇦🇺Australia | 5% | 10% | |
| 🇨🇦Canada | Not a % | 5% | |
| 🇩🇪Germany | Not a % | 19% | |
| 🇵🇹Portugal | Not a % | 23% | |
| Official duty for Portugal
Read it at the official tariff. | |||
| 🇺🇸United States | Not a % | 0% | |
| Official duty for United States
The United States schedule has 27 national lines under this code and 11 different rate texts; 8 more are not listed here. Read it at the official tariff. | |||
Canada, Germany, Portugal and United States charge this code by the hectolitre, the item or the kilogram rather than on its value, sometimes alongside a percentage, which is why the duty column reads Not a % there; a charge of that kind cannot be shown as a single percentage, so none is shown, the calculator does not estimate it, and the official wording is under each of those rows.
Rates shown are MFN (Most Favoured Nation), the default for WTO members. Preferential FTA rates may be lower with valid proof of origin. Section 301 / anti-dumping surcharges on Chinese-origin goods are not included.
What that costs: 180620 into Australia
An illustrative consignment of 180620 invoiced at AUD 2,000.00, priced in AUD because a threshold is set in the destination's currency and nothing here is converted.
| Goods value on the invoice | AUD 2,000.00 |
| International freight | AUD 120.00 |
| Cargo insurance | AUD 30.00 |
| Value the duty is charged on, FOB basis | AUD 2,000.00 |
| Duty at 5% | AUD 100.00 |
| Australia tax at 10%, charged on the value plus the duty | AUD 225.00 |
| Total, before commercial charges | AUD 2,475.00 |
And if the consignment were small
Australia relieves customs duty, GST and the Import Processing Charge on consignments at or under AUD 1,000. The 180620 shipment above is over that, so its duty is charged in full. The same code invoiced at exactly AUD 1,000 with no freight would be charged AUD 0.00 of duty and AUD 0.00 of tax, a total of AUD 1,000.00. The rate on the 180620 row has not changed; only the charge is relieved. The tax is not simply absent at that value: Australia collects it on the sale instead of at the border, so an overseas seller or marketplace above the registration threshold charges it at checkout. What the relief removes is the charge on arrival, not the tax.
Selling rather than buying? AUD 2,475.00 is what your buyer in Australia pays to take delivery of this consignment, yours to pay if you quote DDP and theirs if you quote DAP: Exporting to Australia sets out who collects it and what your invoice has to say.
An illustration, not a quotation: broker fees, handling and any trade remedy on the origin sit outside it. Price 180620 on your own numbers in the duty calculator.
How these rates were verified
Rates last verified 7 September 2026Every figure in the table above was read from the official tariff database of the market that charges it, on the date shown. Nothing here is copied from another aggregator.
- 🇺🇸US
- HTS General for 180620 US, read on 2026-09-07 from https://hts.usitc.gov/search?query=1806.20 and again on 2026-09-07 from https://hts.usitc.gov/reststop/exportList?from=18&to=19&format=CSV&styles=false. Both returned the official wording "Free ; 5% ; 37.2¢/kg + 4.3% ; 52.8¢/kg + 4.3% ; 4.3% ; 2% ; 10% ; 30.5¢/kg + 8.5% ; 8.5% ; 37.2¢/kg + 8.5% ; 52.8¢/kg + 8.5%". The United States International Trade Commission is the only body that publishes this schedule. The second reading was taken in a different format to check the reading, not to corroborate the schedule, because there is no second schedule to corroborate it against. Retrieved text: 1806.20.20 Free; 1806.20.22.00 5%; 1806.20.24.00 5%; 1806.20.26.00 37.2¢/kg + 4.3%; 1806.20.28.00 52.8¢/kg + 4.3%; 1806.20.34.00 5%; 1806.20.36.00 37.2¢/kg + 4.3%; 1806.20.38.00 52.8¢/kg + 4.3%; 1806.20.50 4.3%; 1806.20.60.00 2%; 1806.20.67.00 10%; 1806.20.71.00 10%; 1806.20.73.00 30.5¢/kg + 8.5%; 1806.20.75.00 10%; 1806.20.77.00 30.5¢/kg + 8.5%; 1806.20.78.00 8.5%; 1806.20.79.00 10%; 1806.20.81.0
- 🇨🇦CA
- MFN for 180620 CA, read on 2026-09-07 from https://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/trade-commerce/tariff-tarif/2026/html/00/ch18-eng.html and again on 2026-09-07 from https://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/trade-commerce/tariff-tarif/2026/menu-eng.html. Both returned the official wording "Free ; 5% ; 265% but not less than $1.15/kg". The Canada Border Services Agency is the only body that publishes this schedule. The Department of Justice publishes the Act and refers readers to the Agency for the schedule itself, so both readings are the Agency's, taken from two different products. Retrieved text: 1806.20.10 Free; 1806.20.21 5%; 1806.20.22 265% but not less than $1.15/kg; 1806.20.90 Free
- 🇦🇺AU
- MFN for 180620 AU, read on 2026-09-07 from https://www.abf.gov.au/importing-exporting-and-manufacturing/tariff-classification/current-tariff/schedule-3/section-iv/chapter-18 and again on 2026-09-07 from https://www.legislation.gov.au/C2004A04997/latest/text. Both returned 5%. The two publications are independent of each other and they agree. Retrieved text: 1806.20.00 5%
- 🇩🇪DE 🇵🇹PT
- One reading covers DE and PT, which are priced from the same schedule: Third country duty (EU, via NI Online Tariff) for 180620 DE, read on 2026-09-07 from https://www.trade-tariff.service.gov.uk/xi/commodities/1806201020 and again on 2026-09-07 from https://trade.ec.europa.eu/access-to-markets/en/results?product=180620&origin=CN&destination=DE. Both returned the official wording "8.30 % + EA MAX 18.70 % +ADSZ ; 15.40 % + EA". The two publications are independent of each other and they agree. Retrieved text: 1806201020 8.30 % + EA MAX 18.70 % +ADSZ; 1806201090 8.30 % + EA MAX 18.70 % +ADSZ; 1806203020 8.30 % + EA MAX 18.70 % +ADSZ; 1806203090 8.30 % + EA MAX 18.70 % +ADSZ; 1806205020 8.30 % + EA MAX 18.70 % +ADSZ; 1806205090 8.30 % + EA MAX 18.70 % +ADSZ; 1806207020 15.40 % + EA; 1806207090 15.40 % + EA; 1806208012 8.30 % + EA MAX 18.70 % +ADSZ; 1806208019 8.30 % + EA MAX 18.70 % +ADSZ; 1806208092 8.3
Markets with no figure recorded
United Kingdom: United Kingdom splits 1806.20 into 18 tariff lines and they do not carry the same rate: the schedule returned 8 to 14%. A single percentage cannot represent that honestly, so no United Kingdom figure is recorded and the calculator falls back to its disclosed category average.
Re-check first: The United States splits this subheading by milk solids and by the quota notes in chapter 4, and several of its lines add a charge per kilogram to the percentage. The duty follows the recipe rather than the invoice, so read the official wording under the table before quoting a rate.
What falls under 180620
- Chocolate and other cocoa preparations in blocks, slabs or bars weighing more than 2 kg, or in liquid, paste, powder, granular or other bulk form in packings over 2 kg
- Couverture, chocolate chips, industrial chocolate blocks and bulk chocolate for further manufacture
What's specifically excluded
These look similar but belong under a different code:
Commonly confused with
180632: Retail chocolate bars
Heading 1806 splits on the weight of the packing before it considers whether the chocolate is filled or what it is made of. The same couverture in a 2.5 kg block and in a 200 g bar takes two different subheadings, and the boundary is 2 kg exactly.
210690: Bulk food preparations
A cocoa containing preparation that is not chocolate, such as a compound coating made with vegetable fat instead of cocoa butter, can fall outside heading 1806 altogether. The fat used is the fact that decides it and it is not visible in the product name.
Classification & cost note
The 2 kg boundary is the whole subheading and it is a packing test rather than a product one, so an importer selling identical chocolate to a factory and to a shop has two codes for one recipe. Two further things repay attention. Cocoa butter is what makes chocolate chocolate for tariff purposes, and a compound coating using vegetable fat instead can leave heading 1806 entirely for a food preparation heading at a different rate, which is a trap for anyone buying on the word chocolate alone. And bulk cocoa products are exposed to a regulatory regime that finished confectionery in small packs often escapes: in the European Union the deforestation regulation requires due diligence and geolocation data for cocoa, an obligation that attaches to the commodity and travels with it into the products made from it.
Typical products: Couverture chocolate in 5 kg blocks · Bulk chocolate chips and callets · Industrial chocolate slabs for manufacturing · Bulk cocoa paste and liquor · Chocolate in 10 kg bags for further processing · Bulk chocolate powder over 2 kg
What the notes to section IV say
Chapter 18 sits in section IV, prepared foodstuffs; beverages, spirits and vinegar; tobacco and manufactured tobacco substitutes; Products, whether or not containing nicotine, intended for inhalation without combustion; Other nicotine containing products intended for the intake of nicotine into the human body, where a section note governs every chapter in the section and applies before the heading notes below; the one reaching chapter 18 names no heading this site holds a code under, and it is quoted whole on the chapter 18 page, read from https://www.trade-tariff.service.gov.uk/api/v2/sections/4 on 2026-09-08.
What the nomenclature says about heading 1806
180620 is a subheading of 1806, chocolate and other food preparations containing cocoa , and this site holds one other code under the same heading, which every rule below governs equally.
One numbered note to chapter 18 takes heading 1806 as its own subject, and it is quoted below in full, as published.
Note 2 to chapter 18
Heading 1806 includes sugar confectionery containing cocoa and, subject to Note 1 to this chapter, other food preparations containing cocoa.
Read from the notes to chapter 18 published in the UK Trade Tariff by HM Revenue and Customs, at https://www.trade-tariff.service.gov.uk/api/v2/chapters/18, with the heading title from https://www.trade-tariff.service.gov.uk/api/v2/headings/1806, on 2026-09-07, with the whole layer and the reason a heading note is a chapter note set out on the chapter 18 page. These notes are part of the international text of the Harmonized System, so the rule is the same whichever destination a shipment is going to, and it decides classification and never a rate.
Questions about 180620
What decides this subheading?
The weight of the packing. Chocolate in blocks, slabs or bars over 2 kg, or in bulk forms in packings over 2 kg, sits here, and the same chocolate in retail sizes sits in the subheadings below. The boundary is 2 kg exactly.
Is compound coating classified as chocolate?
Often not. Chocolate for tariff purposes depends on cocoa butter, so a coating made with vegetable fat can fall outside heading 1806 into a food preparation heading at a different rate, despite being sold as chocolate.
Does bulk cocoa carry extra obligations?
Yes in several markets. The European Union's deforestation regulation requires due diligence and geolocation data for cocoa, an obligation attaching to the commodity itself rather than to the customs classification.
Does bulk chocolate need temperature controlled transport?
In practice almost always, though the tariff says nothing about it. Chocolate blooms and loses temper above moderate temperatures, so bulk shipments move in reefer containers with a set point, and a heat damaged cargo is a commercial loss rather than a customs problem.
Codes in nearby chapters
Chapter 18 holds 2 subheadings on this site, so these are the closest chapters by number rather than codes for similar goods.
Related codes in Chapter 18
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