11 Products of the milling industry; malt, starches, inulin, wheat gluten
The broadest level of the Harmonized System. Pick the heading below that fits your goods, then the six-digit code under it — that last one is what you declare.
Section II, Vegetable Products — plants, vegetables, fruit, nuts, coffee, tea, cereals, seeds and flours.
- 11 Chapter Products of the milling industry; malt, starches, inulin, wheat gluten
- —— Heading Pick one of the 9 headings below
- —— Subheading Six digits, the level every country shares
Chapter 11 covers products of the milling industry: wheat and other cereal flours, groats, meal, pellets, malt, starches, inulin and wheat gluten. It sits between raw grain (chapter 10) and finished baked or pasta products (chapter 19) in the processing chain. Classification tip: Starch classification depends on the plant source (maize, potato, wheat, cassava), and each source usually maps to its own subheading rather than one generic 'starch' code.
9 headings in chapter 11
Four-digit groups. Pick the one that fits, then the six-digit code inside it.
- 11.01 Wheat or meslin flour 1 code
- 11.02 Cereal flours; other than of wheat or meslin 2 codes
- 11.03 Cereal groats; meal and pellets 4 codes
- 11.04 Cereal grains otherwise worked (e.g. hulled, rolled, flaked, pearled, sliced or kibbled) except rice of heading no. 1006; germ of cereals whole, rolled, flaked or ground 6 codes
- 11.05 Flour, meal, powder, flakes, granules and pellets of potatoes 2 codes
- 11.06 Flour, meal and powder; of the dried leguminous vegetables of heading no. 0713, of sago or of roots or tubers of heading no. 0714 or of the products of chapter 8 3 codes
- 11.07 Malt; whether or not roasted 2 codes
- 11.08 Starches; inulin 6 codes
- 11.09 Wheat gluten; whether or not dried 1 code
Other chapters in Section II
The wording above is the Harmonized System nomenclature as published by the World Customs Organization, HS 2022 edition. It is a classification reference, not a tariff: it carries no duty rates, and it stops at six digits — the importing country adds its own beyond that.
Classification is decided by the General Rules of Interpretation and the section and chapter notes, and it is the importing country’s customs authority that makes it binding.
Shipping goods from chapter 11? A customs hold shows up as a milestone that stops moving — follow the container or the air waybill from departure to delivery.
Track a shipmentChapter 11 FAQ
Chapter 11 covers products of the milling industry: wheat and other cereal flours, groats, meal, pellets, malt, starches, inulin and wheat gluten. It sits between raw grain (chapter 10) and finished baked or pasta products (chapter 19) in the processing chain. Classification tip: Starch classification depends on the plant source (maize, potato, wheat, cassava), and each source usually maps to its own subheading rather than one generic 'starch' code.
Pick the heading below that describes the goods, then the six-digit subheading under it. Six digits is the level the Harmonized System defines and the level customs everywhere recognises; anything beyond that is added by the importing country.
The General Rules of Interpretation, read together with the notes to Section II and to chapter 11. A description that reads right is not enough on its own — the notes routinely pull goods out of the chapter they obviously belong to and put them somewhere else. Where duty or licensing turns on the answer, ask the importing country’s customs authority for a binding ruling.
A wrong or missing code is one of the common reasons customs holds a container, and a hold shows up as a milestone that stops moving. Watch for it in the container tracking app, on the air waybill in the air cargo tracker, or through the tracking API.