HS Code 0306Crustaceans; in shell or not, live, fresh, chilled, frozen, dried, salted or in brine; smoked, cooked or not before or during smoking; in shell, steamed or boiled, whether or not chilled, frozen, dried, salted or in brine

What HS code 0306 covers

A crustacean is a water animal with a hard shell and jointed legs. Shrimp, prawns, lobsters and crabs are the common ones.

The heading takes these animals in almost any form. They can be alive, chilled or frozen. They can be dried, salted or kept in brine. The shell can be on or off.

The legal wording is long and hard to read. A simpler way is to ask two things: what state is the product in, and which animal is it? The codes below follow that order.

Frozen, live and smoked crustaceans: the three code blocks

The six-digit codes fall into three blocks. Each block is one state of the goods. Inside each block the codes run by animal, and the order is nearly the same every time. Rock lobsters come first, then lobsters, crabs, Norway lobsters and shrimp. The last code in a block is a catch-all.

• Frozen crustaceans, 030611 to 030619: seven codes, including steamed or boiled ones that were frozen afterwards.
• Live, fresh or chilled crustaceans, 030631 to 030639: seven codes for animals sold alive or kept cold but not frozen.
• Here all shrimps and prawns share a single code.

What is the HS code for shrimp and prawns?

Shrimp has the most choices, so take it step by step. First pick the block. Frozen shrimp is in the first block and live or fresh shrimp is in the second.

Then ask where the shrimp grew. Cold-water shrimps and prawns, from the Pandalus group and Crangon crangon, have their own codes: 030616 when frozen and 030635 when sold live or fresh. Every other kind uses 030617 when frozen and 030636 when sold live or fresh. Smoked shrimp of any kind goes under 030695.

Use a catch-all last. Codes 030619, 030639 and 030699 are for crustaceans that no named code fits. If a named code fits your product, use it.

Read the full wording of the code, not just its short name. The exact words settle the classification. If you are still unsure, try the HS code classifier.

How HS 0306 differs from nearby headings in Chapter 03

Seafood is spread over many headings, so it is easy to land on the wrong page. Heading 0306 is only for crustaceans. Clams, mussels, oysters and squid are molluscs, and they belong to heading 0307.

Aquatic animals that are neither crustaceans nor molluscs go to heading 0308. Sea cucumbers and sea urchins are examples. Flours, meals and pellets of fish or crustaceans that are fit for people to eat sit in heading 0309.

Fish are kept apart from crustaceans. Frozen fish are in heading 0303. Smoked crab stays in 0306, because the animal decides the heading, not the way it was kept.

Who imports and exports crustaceans under 0306

A code tells you what the goods are. Shipment records tell you who moves them. EximDataX shows shipment-level import and export records from official customs sources.

Coverage: 43 direct customs feeds plus 184 mirror-derived countries. Named buyers and named suppliers are available in 38 of the 43 direct markets. Most markets refresh weekly and some refresh daily.

You can search by HS code to see who imports and exports a product, and book a free demo. Try it with 0306, or with the exact six-digit code you picked above.