5004.00 Silk; yarn (other than yarn spun from silk waste), not put up for retail sale
A full HS code. These six digits are what goes on a customs declaration, and they mean the same thing in every country that uses the Harmonized System.
Section XI, Textiles & Apparel — silk, wool, cotton, man-made fibres, fabrics, carpets and clothing.
- 50 Chapter Silk
- 04 Heading Silk; yarn (other than yarn spun from silk waste), not put up for retail sale
- 00 Subheading Silk; yarn (other than yarn spun from silk waste), not put up for retail sale
Chapter 50 covers silk: raw silk, silk waste, silk yarn and woven silk fabric. It's the first of the fibre-specific textile chapters that make up Section XI (chapters 50-63), organized by fibre type before moving to finished apparel. Classification tip: Raw silk, silk waste (noil) and thrown silk yarn each have separate subheadings, so identify the exact processing stage rather than classifying everything simply as 'silk'.
All of chapter 50The 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 under 5004.00? A customs hold shows up as a milestone that stops moving — follow the container or the air waybill from departure to delivery.
Track a shipment5004.00 FAQ
5004.00 covers silk; yarn (other than yarn spun from silk waste), not put up for retail sale. It sits under heading 50.04 (silk; yarn (other than yarn spun from silk waste), not put up for retail sale) in chapter 50, Section XI of the Harmonized System.
It is the international part of it. Six digits are the same in every country that applies the Harmonized System; the importing country then extends them to eight or ten for its own tariff and statistics. Declare 5004.00 plus whatever national digits the destination’s tariff schedule adds to it.
The General Rules of Interpretation, read together with the notes to Section XI and to chapter 50. 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.