Directory / Chapter 21
Chapter 21: Miscellaneous edible preparations
Miscellaneous edible preparations, including sauces, soups, yeasts, food supplements and the extracts and concentrates of coffee and tea.
The 2 codes this site holds in chapter 21
| Code | What it covers | Markets priced | Duty range |
|---|---|---|---|
| 210111 | Instant coffee and coffee extracts | 6 of 6 | 0% to 9% |
| 210690 | Food preparations not elsewhere specified | 5 of 6 | Charged per unit, not on value |
Where this chapter ends
This is the chapter a food preparation reaches when no earlier chapter names it, so it is decided last rather than first. Coffee and tea extracts sit here rather than in chapter 9, and a preparation with a therapeutic purpose rather than a nutritional one moves out to chapter 30.
The guides in chapter 21 name 5 codes outside it that goods reach when they turn out not to belong here.
- 090111 (chapter 09): Coffee, not roasted, not decaffeinated
- 090112 (chapter 09): Coffee, not roasted, decaffeinated
- 090121 (chapter 09): Coffee, roasted, not decaffeinated
- 190110 (chapter 19): Retail packed preparations for infant use
- 300490 (chapter 30): Medicaments put up for retail sale
What the notes to section IV say
Chapter 21 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, which runs from chapter 16 to chapter 24. A section note governs every chapter in its section, so it stands one layer above the note to chapter 21 below and applies before it.
The nomenclature publishes one note to section IV, and it reaches chapter 21. It is quoted here in full, as published.
The note to section IV
In this section the term 'pellets' means products which have been agglomerated either directly by compression or by the addition of a binder in a proportion not exceeding 3% by weight.
Read from the section notes published in the UK Trade Tariff by HM Revenue and Customs, at https://www.trade-tariff.service.gov.uk/api/v2/sections/4, on 2026-09-08, and read a second time from the chapter endpoint quoted below, which carries the same section note and has to agree with it. Like the chapter and heading notes, a section note is part of the international text of the Harmonized System, so it decides classification and never a rate.
What the nomenclature excludes
The sentence above is this site's summary. This one is not. Note 1 to chapter 21 sets out what this chapter does not cover, and these are its 8 items as published, with the heading each one sends the goods to. Where a note names a chapter this site also covers, the chapter number is a link.
- (a) mixed vegetables of heading 0712
- (b) roasted coffee substitutes containing coffee in any proportion (heading 0901)
- (c) flavoured tea (heading 0902)
- (d) spices or other products of heading 0904 to 0910
- (e) food preparations, other than the products described in heading 2103 or 2104, containing more than 20% by weight of sausage, meat, meat offal, blood, insects, fish or crustaceans, molluscs or other aquatic invertebrates, or any combination thereof (Chapter 16)
- (f) products of heading 2404
- (g) yeast put up as a medicament or other products of heading 3003 or 3004
- (h) prepared enzymes of heading 3507
Read from the chapter notes published in the UK Trade Tariff by HM Revenue and Customs, at https://www.trade-tariff.service.gov.uk/api/v2/chapters/21, on 2026-09-07. The first six digits of that nomenclature are the Harmonized System itself and the notes to a chapter are part of its international text, so this is the same note whichever of this site's destinations a shipment is going to. It decides classification and never a rate.
What the notes say about each heading
The note above governs chapter 21 as a whole. Underneath it the same published notes speak about individual four digit headings, and that is the layer a classification usually turns on. This site holds codes under 2 headings in this chapter. One of them is the subject of a numbered note. The notes say nothing about the other one, which is the published position rather than a gap here.
| Heading | What the nomenclature calls it | Codes here | What the notes say about it |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2101 | Extracts, essences and concentrates, of coffee, tea or maté and preparations with a basis of these products or with a basis of coffee, tea or maté; roasted chicory and other roasted coffee substitutes, and extracts, essences and concentrates thereof | 210111 | Subject of note 2 |
| 2106 | Food preparations not elsewhere specified or included | 210690 | Not named in the chapter notes |
How each of those notes opens, in the words the nomenclature uses. The note in full is on every code page under the heading it governs, which is where a reader deciding a classification is standing.
Note 2 to chapter 21, which takes heading 2101 as its subject
Opening, as published
Extracts of the substitutes referred to in note 1 (b) are to be classified in heading 2101.
Note 2 in full on 210111 , and on every other code this site holds under that heading.
Read from the same chapter notes quoted above, at https://www.trade-tariff.service.gov.uk/api/v2/chapters/21, on 2026-09-07, with each heading title read from its own endpoint. The Harmonized System publishes no separate heading notes: its legal text is section notes, chapter notes and subheading notes, and what governs a heading is a chapter note whose subject clause names it. The section notes are quoted at the top of this page, which is the layer above.
What chapter 21 costs to import
The dearest line this site holds in chapter 21 is 210111, instant coffee and coffee extracts, at 9% into Germany. 3 of the 6 rates charged on value in this chapter are zero. The widest gap between destinations is on 210111, instant coffee and coffee extracts, which runs from 0% to 9% depending on where it lands. 5 rates in this chapter are charged per unit rather than on value, so they are left out of every range above.
A destination that prices part of a chapter answers for part of it, so this is how much of chapter 21 each one covers, out of 2 codes.
| Destination | Codes priced | Duty range in this chapter |
|---|---|---|
| Canada | 2 of 2 | 0% plus 1 charged per unit |
| Germany | 2 of 2 | 9% plus 1 charged per unit |
| Portugal | 2 of 2 | 9% plus 1 charged per unit |
| United Kingdom | 2 of 2 | 8% plus 1 charged per unit |
| United States | 2 of 2 | 0% plus 1 charged per unit |
| Australia | 1 of 2 | 0% |
Third country rates, which is what applies with no trade agreement claimed. Destination tax is charged on top. Each code page carries the reading behind its own figures and the day they were read.