Fruit puree HS code: 2007, 2008 or 2009, and the test for each

The fruit puree HS code is set by process, not sweetness. Single-strength pasteurised puree is usually 2008.99. Puree concentrated by vacuum evaporation counts as obtained by cooking under Chapter 20 Note 5 and goes to 2007.99. Juice and juice concentrate sit in 2009, where Brix splits the line only for named fruits: pineapple is 2009.41 at 20 °Brix or below, 2009.49 above.

Which three headings divide puree, pulp and concentrate?

Three Chapter 20 headings split this product family, and each one applies a different test. Heading 20.07 turns on cooking. Heading 20.09 turns on whether the product is a juice or a puree. Heading 20.08 is the residual heading for fruit otherwise prepared or preserved. A fourth heading, 08.11 for frozen fruit, can keep an uncooked frozen puree out of Chapter 20 entirely.

Supplier sheets usually print one code per product and give no reason for it. The same supplier’s mango puree and mango puree concentrate can sit under different headings, and both codes can be right. The table sets out where the common drum products fall and the instrument behind each one.

The frozen-against-aseptic choice changes more than the storage temperature. It can change the chapter, which is covered in the site’s comparison of aseptic and frozen fruit puree.

When does Brix decide the HS code, and when does it not?

Brix decides the six-digit subheading only for juices the nomenclature names with a Brix split, and pineapple is the one that matters for Vietnamese supply. For puree, Brix classifies nothing at any level. Three separate Brix tests appear on supplier paperwork, and classification errors come from mixing them.

At six digits. HS 2009.41 covers pineapple juice “Of a Brix value not exceeding 20”; 2009.49 covers “Other”. The Chapter 20 subheading note reads the Brix value at 20 °C. A 60 °Brix pineapple concentrate is therefore 2009.49, and NFC pineapple juice at 20 °Brix or below is 2009.41. The full pineapple specification, including the cloudy and clear grades, is in the site’s pineapple juice concentrate specification.

Not at six digits. Passion fruit and mango juice sit in 2009.89, the subheading for juice of any other single fruit, and 2009.89 has no Brix split. There is no HS code that names passion fruit in any form. The fresh fruit shares 0810.90 with dragon fruit and others; the concentrate shares 2009.89 with dozens of other juices.

At EU eight digits. A second cut appears at 67 °Brix. According to CBI, CN 2009 89 97 is the common line for unsweetened tropical juice of 67 °Brix or below. That covers both a 13 °Brix NFC passion fruit juice and a 50 °Brix concentrate. If you compare an NFC quote with a concentrate quote, you are comparing two products on the same tariff line.

For puree, the test is the process. That is the subject of the next two sections.

Why does 29 °Brix mango concentrate leave the juice heading while 50 °Brix passion fruit stays?

The 50 °Brix passion fruit concentrate is a juice, so it stays in 2009.89. The 29 °Brix mango puree concentrate is a puree, so it goes to 2007.99. The product with the higher Brix stays in the juice heading. The product with the lower Brix moves to the jam-and-puree heading, because the test is what the product is, not how sweet it is.

Both can come off the same kind of multiple-effect vacuum evaporator. The mango moves heading because of Chapter 20 Note 5, which defines “obtained by cooking” for heading 20.07. Paraphrased, the note covers heat treatment at atmospheric or reduced pressure that increases viscosity by reducing water content. Vacuum evaporation of a puree does exactly that. Heading 20.07 covers fruit purée obtained by cooking whether or not sugar is added, so added sugar is not the test. A common misreading puts “sweetened puree” in 2007.99 and “unsweetened puree” in 2008.99. That puts the boundary in the wrong place. An unsweetened puree concentrated by evaporation is still 2007.99.

The passion fruit concentrate has gone through the same evaporation, but heading 20.09 takes juices, concentrated or not. Concentrating a juice does not turn it into a puree. The site’s note on 50 °Brix passion fruit concentrate covers its grade and drum specification.

Whether a 29 °Brix mango product counts as a concentrate at all is answered on the food-law side. TCVN 7946:2008, identical to CODEX STAN 247-2005, sets mango at 13.5 °Brix reconstituted and requires a concentrate’s Brix to be at least 50 % above the reconstituted level. A 29 °Brix product is about 2.1 times 13.5, so it qualifies as a concentrate.

What did CBP decide for aseptic mango pulp in ruling N320885?

US Customs and Border Protection New York ruling N320885, dated 16 December 2021, classified an aseptic organic mango pulp in HTSUS 2008.99.40, not in 2007.99. The product was 99.8 % mango and 0.2 % citric acid. It was pasteurised at 90 °C for 20 seconds and then at 100 °C for 30 seconds, and packed in 55-gallon drums. Those parameters describe pasteurisation for preservation, not evaporation to reduce water and raise viscosity. This article reads that as the reason the pulp fell outside the Chapter 20 Note 5 definition of “obtained by cooking”; that reading is this article’s inference, not wording taken from the ruling. The outcome was heading 20.08, fruit otherwise prepared or preserved. The first six digits of the Harmonized System are common to its members, so 2008.99 is the same six-digit subheading in the EU, but a US ruling does not bind EU customs; a binding classification for a specific product in the EU comes from an EU Binding Tariff Information decision. The suffix .40 is a US national line and does not apply outside the United States. For a single-strength pasteurised fruit puree with no concentration step, N320885 is a published precedent with process parameters attached.

Ask for the time-and-temperature record of the heat step with the lot paperwork. That record is the evidence the classification rests on.

Is frozen fruit puree in Chapter 8 or Chapter 20?

An uncooked frozen puree may stay in 0811.90, frozen fruit. A pasteurised frozen puree is an open question. No ruling cited in this article settles whether pasteurisation followed by freezing keeps a puree in 0811.90 or moves it to 2008.99. Heading 08.11 covers frozen fruit that is uncooked or cooked by steaming or boiling in water. Where a product’s heat step falls against that wording is a matter for a binding ruling on a real lot. That means an EU Binding Tariff Information decision or a CBP ruling.

The boundary between 0811.90, 2008.99 and 2007.99 turns on a process step that the commercial invoice does not show. The HS line on a specification sheet is a starting point, not a determination. VinFruits Global confirms the HS line with the buyer’s customs broker before loading, because the six-digit heading on a specification sheet is not the line that sets the duty.

Where do the Vietnamese standards part from the tariff?

Vietnamese product standards define products by composition and name. They say nothing about which tariff heading a lot belongs in. In three places they divide the same goods differently from the HS. These are the boundaries where a Vietnamese certificate of analysis and a customs entry can disagree.

Pineapple between 20 and 27 °Brix. 10TCN 417-2000 Nước dứa cô đặc (pineapple juice concentrate) is a Vietnamese sector standard issued in 2000 by Decision 56/2000/QĐ-BNN-KHCN. It does not allow the name “concentrate” below 27 % soluble solids, measured by refractometer at 20 °C and acid-corrected. It allows the name nước dứa cô đặc lạnh đông for the frozen product. The HS puts any pineapple juice above 20 °Brix in 2009.49. A partly concentrated pineapple juice at 21–26 °Brix is therefore 2009.49 for customs but not “concentrate” under the Vietnamese text. If a lot sits in that band, specify the product name and the line separately in the contract. Do not let one stand in for the other.

One standard, four headings. TCVN 13941:2023 Chanh leo đông lạnh (frozen passion fruit) covers pulp, puree, juice and concentrated puree and juice together, all held at −18 °C or colder. It sets soluble solids at 13.5 % or more after thawing for single strength, pH 2.3–3.5, and titratable acidity of 2.5–5.0 % for single strength and 10.0–16.0 % for concentrate. The tariff spreads those same products across 0811, 2008, 2007 and 2009. A certificate of analysis that cites TCVN 13941 confirms the composition. It does not identify the heading.

Puree is juice in US food law. Under 21 CFR 120.1, puree and puree concentrate count as juice for juice HACCP, including when they are used as a beverage ingredient. The HS keeps puree out of 20.09. A US importer can file a puree under 2008.99 or 2007.99 and still owe a juice HACCP plan.

Passion fruit Brix: four figures, none of them tariff thresholds.

CBI also states a European minimum of 13.5 °Brix for passion fruit, which conflicts with the 12.0 in Directive 2012/12/EU. The directive is the legal text, so the EU figure in the table is 12.0. These figures govern composition and labelling. If a supplier sheet prints a Brix “to meet HS”, it has mixed the two systems.

Why does the heading matter if EVFTA duty is 0 %?

For goods of Vietnamese origin, the EU rate on Chapter 20 is generally 0 % under EVFTA with EUR.1 or REX proof of origin, so the line rarely changes the duty. The heading still matters, because origin follows the heading. A summary of the agreement published through the WTO Centre states:

“Fresh and processed fruit and vegetable products, fruit juices… Import duties will be completely eliminated as soon as the Agreement comes into force”

The agreement entered into force on 1 August 2020. This wording comes from a summary, not from the line-by-line schedule. Before you cost a container, confirm the exact line in TARIC with origin set to Vietnam and record the date of the lookup. The summary names tariff-rate-quota exceptions for sweetcorn, garlic and mushrooms. None of them affects fruit puree or juice.

Origin is where the process facts come back in:

• Imported fruit frozen as puree in 0811 stays in Chapter 8. Under EVFTA, RCEP and CPTPP, freezing does not confer Vietnamese origin.
• The same imported fruit cooked into a Chapter 20 puree changes chapter. That change can confer origin, subject to the product-specific rule for that heading.
• A concentrate made from imported concentrate stays in the same subheading. There is no change of classification, so the lot may not take origin from the Vietnamese processing step; check the product-specific rule for 2007, 2009.49 or 2009.89 in Annex I to Circular 11/2020/TT-BCT before relying on a preference.

If you ask for the code without asking for the process, you have missed the two facts that decide both the duty and whether the preference survives verification.

What should the purchase order say?

The purchase order should make the supplier state the process facts that decide the heading, report Brix the way each instrument measures it, and declare where the fruit was grown. These clauses can be pasted and adapted:

1. “Supplier shall state for each lot: single strength or concentrated; if concentrated, the method (vacuum evaporation or other) and final °Brix measured by refractometer at 20 °C; whether any heat step beyond pasteurisation was applied, with its time and temperature; and whether the lot is frozen or aseptic.”
2. “For juice products, Brix shall be reported both acid-corrected and uncorrected, at 20 °C.”
3. “Supplier shall declare that the fruit in each lot was grown in Vietnam, and shall identify any imported juice, concentrate or puree used in the lot.”
4. “The HS line on the commercial invoice shall match the line agreed in writing before shipment. Where a binding ruling exists, its reference shall be quoted on the invoice.”

Clause 1 lets your broker distinguish 0811.90, 2008.99 and 2007.99. Clause 2 lets the same Brix figure serve the tariff and the composition rules. Clause 3 protects the preference. Clause 4 prevents the code on the invoice from differing from the code you costed.

Common questions

Is mango puree classified under 2007.99 or 2008.99?

It depends on the process. A single-strength pasteurised mango puree is 2008.99, following CBP ruling N320885, which classified aseptic mango pulp pasteurised at 90 °C and 100 °C in HTSUS 2008.99.40. A mango puree concentrated by vacuum evaporation, typically to about 28–30 °Brix, counts as obtained by cooking under Chapter 20 Note 5 and is classified in 2007.99.

Does adding sugar move a fruit puree into heading 20.07?

No. Heading 20.07 covers fruit puree obtained by cooking whether or not it contains added sugar, so sugar is not the test. Cooking is the test, as defined in Chapter 20 Note 5: heat treatment that raises viscosity by reducing water content. An unsweetened puree concentrated by evaporation is 2007.99, and an unsweetened aseptic pasteurised puree that was not evaporated is 2008.99 on the CBP precedent.

What HS code applies to passion fruit juice concentrate?

Passion fruit juice concentrate is HS 2009.89, the subheading for juice of any other single fruit, and that subheading has no Brix split at six digits. In the EU, CBI identifies CN 2009 89 97 as the common line for unsweetened tropical juice of 67 °Brix or below. That line covers both 13 °Brix NFC juice and 50 °Brix concentrate.

At what Brix does pineapple juice move from 2009.41 to 2009.49?

Pineapple juice moves to 2009.49 above 20 °Brix. HS 2009.41 covers pineapple juice of a Brix value not exceeding 20, read at 20 °C under the Chapter 20 subheading note. A 60 °Brix pineapple concentrate is therefore 2009.49, and NFC pineapple juice at 20 °Brix or below is 2009.41.

Is frozen fruit puree classified in Chapter 8 or Chapter 20?

An uncooked frozen puree may stay in 0811.90, frozen fruit, in Chapter 8. Whether a pasteurised frozen puree stays in 0811.90 or moves to 2008.99 is not settled by any ruling cited in this article. For a new product form, obtain an EU Binding Tariff Information decision or a CBP ruling on a real lot before the first shipment.