HS Code Detail
920930 Chapter 92 · Musical Instruments Musical instrument strings
Six-digit subheading in Musical Instruments, chapter 92 of the Harmonized System, priced here for 5 destination markets.
Anatomy of 920930
You will declare against a longer local code that begins 920930: ten digits in the United States and the United Kingdom, 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 | 0% | 10% |
| 🇩🇪Germany | 2.7% | 19% |
| 🇵🇹Portugal | 2.7% | 23% |
| 🇬🇧United Kingdom | 2% | 20% |
| 🇺🇸United States | 0% | 0% |
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: 920930 into Germany
An illustrative consignment of 920930 invoiced at EUR 2,000.00, priced in EUR because a threshold is set in the destination's currency and nothing here is converted.
| Goods value on the invoice | EUR 2,000.00 |
| International freight | EUR 120.00 |
| Cargo insurance | EUR 30.00 |
| Value the duty is charged on, CIF basis | EUR 2,150.00 |
| Duty at 2.7% | EUR 58.05 |
| Germany tax at 19%, charged on the value plus the duty | EUR 419.53 |
| Total, before commercial charges | EUR 2,627.58 |
And if the consignment were small
Germany relieves nothing: the relief was abolished, so the duty above is charged whatever the consignment is worth. A smaller shipment pays less because the value is lower, not because a threshold spared it.
Selling rather than buying? EUR 2,627.58 is what your buyer in Germany pays to take delivery of this consignment, yours to pay if you quote DDP and theirs if you quote DAP: Exporting to Germany 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 920930 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 920930 US, read on 2026-09-07 from https://hts.usitc.gov/search?query=9209.30 and again on 2026-09-07 from https://hts.usitc.gov/reststop/exportList?from=92&to=93&format=CSV&styles=false. Both returned 0%. 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: 9209.30.00.00 Free
- 🇬🇧GB
- Third country duty for 920930 GB, read on 2026-09-07 from https://www.trade-tariff.service.gov.uk/commodities/9209300000 and again on 2026-09-07 from https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/reference-document-for-the-customs-tariff-establishment-eu-exit-regulations-2020. Both returned 2%. The two publications are independent of each other and they agree. Retrieved text: 9209300000 2.00 %
- 🇦🇺AU
- MFN for 920930 AU, read on 2026-09-07 from https://www.abf.gov.au/importing-exporting-and-manufacturing/tariff-classification/current-tariff/schedule-3/section-xviii/chapter-92 and again on 2026-09-07 from https://www.legislation.gov.au/C2004A04997/latest/text. Both returned 0%. The two publications are independent of each other and they agree. Retrieved text: 9209.30.00 Free
- 🇩🇪DE 🇵🇹PT
- One reading covers DE and PT, which are priced from the same schedule: Third country duty (EU, via NI Online Tariff) for 920930 DE, read on 2026-09-07 from https://www.trade-tariff.service.gov.uk/xi/commodities/9209300000 and again on 2026-09-07 from https://trade.ec.europa.eu/access-to-markets/en/results?product=920930&origin=CN&destination=DE. Both returned 2.7%. The two publications are independent of each other and they agree. Retrieved text: 9209300000 2.70 %
Markets with no figure recorded
Canada: Canada splits 9209.30 into 2 tariff lines and they do not carry the same rate: the schedule returned 0 to 4.5%. A single percentage cannot represent that honestly, so no Canada figure is recorded and the calculator falls back to its disclosed category average.
Re-check first: Strings enter the United States free whatever instrument they are for. Other parts and accessories fall to different subheadings of this heading, so confirm the goods really are strings rather than a fitted set of parts.
What falls under 920930
- Strings for musical instruments of every kind, presented separately
- Guitar, violin, viola, cello, double bass and harp strings
- Strings of steel, nylon, gut, silk wound and synthetic core construction alike
What's specifically excluded
These look similar but belong under a different code:
- 920991: Parts and accessories for pianos
- 920992: Parts and accessories for the string instruments of heading 9202
- 920999: Other parts and accessories for musical instruments
- 920290: Complete string instruments
Commonly confused with
920992: Bridges, pegs and other violin parts
The tariff gives strings a subheading of their own ahead of the general parts lines, so the usual habit of classifying an accessory as a part of the instrument it belongs to gives the wrong answer here. A set of violin strings is 9209.30; a bridge, a tailpiece or a tuning peg for the same violin is a part of a heading 9202 instrument.
920290: The instrument itself
A set of strings shipped inside the case with a new instrument is normally classified with the instrument, as goods put up together for retail sale. The same set on its own, or in a box of a hundred, is 9209.30.
Classification & cost note
Most directories, this one included until recently, describe this subheading as guitar strings. The tariff text is wider and simply says musical instrument strings, so every string for every instrument is here and the material makes no difference: steel, nylon, gut, silk wound, phosphor bronze and synthetic core strings are one subheading. What matters more than the material is that strings have been lifted out of the general parts lines and given a subheading of their own, which reverses the habit that serves an importer well everywhere else in chapter 92. Classifying a set of cello strings as a part of a cello is the wrong answer, and the parts lines are for the bridges, pegs, bows, cases and mechanisms that go with the instrument instead. Two practical points. Strings supplied inside the case with a new instrument are normally classified with the instrument as goods put up together for retail sale, while the same strings shipped separately are this code, so the same physical article takes two codes depending on how it travels. And gut strings are an animal product, so they can attract veterinary or sanitary import conditions that a steel string never does.
Typical products: Acoustic and electric guitar string sets · Classical guitar nylon strings · Violin and viola string sets · Cello and double bass strings · Harp strings · Banjo and mandolin string sets · Bass guitar string sets · Gut strings for period instruments · Piano replacement strings
What the notes to section XVIII say
Chapter 92 sits in section XVIII, optical, photographic, cinematographic, measuring, checking, precision, medical or surgical instruments and apparatus; clocks and watches; musical instruments; parts and accessories thereof, and the nomenclature publishes no note to that section at all, so the note to chapter 92 is the highest rule over this code; that is the published position rather than a gap here, and the chapter 92 page says the same, read from https://www.trade-tariff.service.gov.uk/api/v2/sections/18 on 2026-09-08.
What the nomenclature says about heading 9209
920930 is a subheading of 9209, parts (for example, mechanisms for musical boxes) and accessories (for example, cards, discs and rolls for mechanical instruments) of musical instruments; metronomes, tuning forks and pitch pipes of all kinds , and it is the only code this site holds under that heading.
No numbered note to chapter 92 takes heading 9209 as its subject, which is what the published notes say rather than a gap on this page: the heading is defined by its own wording above and by the note to the chapter, quoted in full on the chapter 92 page.
One further note to chapter 92 names heading 9209 from elsewhere in its own text, usually to send goods into it or away from it, and the sentence that names it is quoted below.
Note 2 to chapter 92, which is about something else
Cards, discs and rolls of heading 9209 presented with an instrument are to be treated as separate articles and not as forming a part of such instrument.
Read from the notes to chapter 92 published in the UK Trade Tariff by HM Revenue and Customs, at https://www.trade-tariff.service.gov.uk/api/v2/chapters/92, with the heading title from https://www.trade-tariff.service.gov.uk/api/v2/headings/9209, on 2026-09-07, with the whole layer and the reason a heading note is a chapter note set out on the chapter 92 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 920930
Is this subheading only for guitar strings?
No. The tariff text covers strings for musical instruments generally, so violin, cello, harp, banjo and piano strings are all classified here alongside guitar strings.
Are strings classified as parts of the instrument?
No, and this is the trap. Strings have a subheading of their own that comes ahead of the general parts lines, so they are never classified as parts of the instrument they fit.
What about strings supplied with a new instrument?
A spare set inside the case with a new instrument is normally classified with the instrument as goods put up together for retail sale. Shipped separately, the same set is this code.
Do gut strings need anything extra?
They can. Gut is an animal product and may attract veterinary or sanitary import conditions in the destination that synthetic and steel strings do not.
Does the winding material change the answer?
No. Flatwound, roundwound, halfwound, nickel plated, stainless, phosphor bronze and silver plated windings are commercial distinctions that buyers care about and the tariff ignores. All of them are musical instrument strings.
Where do string accessories such as ball ends and silks go?
Loose components sold on their own are not strings. Ball ends, silk wrappings, string winders and peg compound belong with parts and accessories or with the material they are made from, so a mixed accessory carton rarely travels on one code.
Related codes in Chapter 92
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