HS Code 4503Cork; articles of natural cork

What HS code 4503 covers

Heading 4503 is for finished goods cut or shaped from natural cork. A wine stopper is the classic example. Natural means the cork has not been ground up and glued back together. That one point often decides whether a product sits here or in a nearby heading.

The Harmonized System is the shared customs tariff classification used by most trading countries. They all use the same first six digits, so 450310 and 450390 mean the same thing wherever you ship. Some traders write this as the HSN code 4503. It is the same heading.

Countries add their own extra digits after the sixth. Those national lines are where local rules apply, so check your own customs tariff for the full number before you file.

HS code for cork stoppers: 450310 vs 450390

Pick the six-digit code by what the item is. If you buy or sell cork stoppers, start with this one.

450390 is the catch-all for every other natural cork article under this heading. Customs uses it when a product is clearly cork but is not a cork or a stopper. Think of cork coasters, discs or other shaped pieces.

A quick way to choose:

• Use 450310 when the item is a cork or a stopper.
• Use 450390 when the item is any other shaped natural cork piece.
• Use neither when the cork is bonded or ground. Look at agglomerated cork instead.

Natural cork vs agglomerated cork: 4501, 4502 and 4504

The cork headings follow the steps from raw material to finished goods. The right one depends on the form of the cork and on whether it is natural or agglomerated.

Agglomerated cork is cork that has been bound together, with or without a binding substance. It does not belong in 4503. It has its own heading, 4504.

• 4502: natural cork that is debacked or roughly squared, or in blocks, plates, sheets or strip, including sharp-edged blanks for corks or stoppers.
• 4503: finished natural cork goods, split into 450310 and 450390.
• 4504: agglomerated cork and its finished goods.

Cork import and export data for heading 4503

Codes tell you what a product is. Shipment records tell you who trades it. 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 450310 for stoppers or 450390 for other cork pieces. The buyer data and supplier data pages show how to reach the companies behind the shipments.

Check the boundaries before you file

Many cork products sit close to a line. A cork blank could be a stopper or a block. A board could be natural or bonded. When you are unsure, compare the neighbouring headings first. The HS code classifier can help you narrow it down.

Go back to the chapter page for the full cork picture, or browse every chapter in the complete HS code list.