Chapter 25
Salt; sulfur; earths and stone; plastering materials, lime and cement
Section V — Mineral products · 29 headings · 67 subheadings
Duty in chapter 25 at a glance
Counted across the 114 US national lines beneath this chapter's subheadings. It says what kind of chapter this is before you read ninety headings to find out.
- Duty-free lines
- 102 of 114 stating a rate
- Ad valorem range
- 2.8% – 3%
- Dutiable per unit, not on value
- 1 line is charged per kilogram, litre or item rather than as a percentage of the customs value. A landed-cost estimate built from value alone will understate the duty on those.
Preference programmes appearing in this chapter
Named from General Note 3(c)(i). A programme appearing here does not mean it applies to your goods — that depends on the line, the origin and the agreement's rules of origin.
What this chapter excludes
These notes push goods out of chapter 25 even when a subheading's wording seems to fit. They are the fastest way to find out you are in the wrong chapter.
2. This chapter does not cover:
- (a) Sublimed sulfur, precipitated sulfur or colloidal sulfur (heading 2802);
- (b) Earth colors containing 70 percent or more by weight of combined iron evaluated as Fe2O3 (heading 282l);
- (c) Medicaments or other products of chapter 30;
- (d) Perfumery, cosmetic or toilet preparations (chapter 33);
- (e) Dolomite ramming mix (heading 3816);
- (f) Setts, curbstones or flagstones (heading 6801); mosaic cubes and the like (heading 6802); roofing, facing or damp course slates (heading 6803);
- (g) Precious or semiprecious stones (heading 7102 or 7103);
- (h) Cultured crystals (other than optical elements) weighing not less than 2.5 g each, of sodium chloride or of magnesium oxide, of heading 3824; optical elements of sodium chloride or of magnesium oxide (heading 9001);
- (ij) Billiard chalks (heading 9504); or
- (k) Writing or drawing chalks or tailors' chalks (heading 9609).
(h) Cultured crystals (other than optical elements) weighing not less than 2.5 g each, of sodium chloride or of magnesium oxide, of heading 3824; optical elements of sodium chloride or of magnesium oxide (heading 9001);
Legal notes
Reproduced from the published tariff schedule. Section and chapter notes are binding and part of the nomenclature; statistical notes are US reporting rules and are not classification law.
Chapter 25 — Notes
Legal Notes of the Harmonized System. Binding, and part of the international nomenclature.
1. Except where their context or note 4 to this chapter otherwise requires, the headings of this chapter cover only products which are in the crude state or which have been washed (even with chemical substances eliminating the impurities without changing the structure of the product), crushed, ground, powdered, levigated, sifted, screened, concentrated by flotation, magnetic separation or other mechanical or physical processes (except crystallization), but not products which have been roasted, calcined, obtained by mixing or subjected to processing beyond that mentioned in each heading.
The products of this chapter may contain an added anti-dusting agent, provided that such addition does not render the product particularly suitable for a specific use rather than for general use.
2. This chapter does not cover:
(a) Sublimed sulfur, precipitated sulfur or colloidal sulfur (heading 2802);
(b) Earth colors containing 70 percent or more by weight of combined iron evaluated as Fe2O3 (heading 282l);
(c) Medicaments or other products of chapter 30;
(d) Perfumery, cosmetic or toilet preparations (chapter 33);
(e) Dolomite ramming mix (heading 3816);
(f) Setts, curbstones or flagstones (heading 6801); mosaic cubes and the like (heading 6802); roofing, facing or damp course slates (heading 6803);
(g) Precious or semiprecious stones (heading 7102 or 7103);
(h) Cultured crystals (other than optical elements) weighing not less than 2.5 g each, of sodium chloride or of magnesium oxide, of heading 3824; optical elements of sodium chloride or of magnesium oxide (heading 9001);
(ij) Billiard chalks (heading 9504); or
(k) Writing or drawing chalks or tailors' chalks (heading 9609).
3. Any products classifiable in heading 2517 and any other heading of the chapter are to be classified in heading 2517.
4. Heading 2530 applies, inter alia, to: vermiculite, perlite and chlorites, unexpanded; earth colors, whether or not calcined or mixed together; natural micaceous iron oxides; meerschaum (whether or not in polished pieces); amber; agglomerated meerschaum and agglomerated amber, in plates, rods, sticks or similar forms, not worked after molding; jet; strontianite (whether or not calcined), other than strontium oxide; broken pieces of pottery, brick or concrete.
Chapter 25 — Statistical Notes
US statistical reporting only. NOT classification law.
1. For the purposes of heading 2525:
(a) The term "split block mica" means mica, not exceeding 0.508 mm in thickness, that has been split and selected within a tolerance of 0.203 mm, but which has not been cut or stamped to dimensions, shape or form;
(b) The term "mica splittings" means mica laminae in book-form or book-pack, or in loose pack, suitable for use in the manufacture of agglomerated (built-up) mica included in heading 6815.
Notes are reproduced from the published tariff schedule. They govern classification, but reading them is not the same as applying them to your goods — that is what a broker or a binding ruling is for.
Headings in chapter 25
2503
2504 Natural graphite
2505 Natural sands of all kinds, whether or not colored, other than metalbearing sands of chapter 26
2506 Quartz (other than natural sands); quartzite, whether or not roughly trimmed or merely cut, by sawing or otherwise, into blocks or slabs of a rectangular (including square) shape
2508 Other clays (not including expanded clays of heading 6806), andalusite, kyanite and sillimanite, whether or not calcined; mullite; chamotte or dinas earths
2509
2510 Natural calcium phosphates, natural aluminum calcium phosphates and phosphatic chalk
2511 Natural barium sulfate (barytes); natural barium carbonate (witherite), whether or not calcined, other than barium oxide of heading 2816
2513 Pumice; emery; natural corundum, natural garnet and other natural abrasives, whether or not heat-treated
2515 Marble, travertine and other calcareous monumental or building stone of an apparent specific gravity of 2.5 or more, and alabaster, whether or not roughly trimmed or merely cut, by sawing or otherwise, into blocks or slabs of a rectangular (including square) shape
2516 Granite, porphyry, basalt, sandstone and other monumental or building stone, whether or not roughly trimmed or merely cut, by sawing or otherwise, into blocks or slabs of a rectangular (including square) shape
2517 Pebbles, gravel, broken or crushed stone, of a kind commonly used for concrete aggregates, for road metalling, or for railway or other ballast; shingle and flint, whether or not heat-treated; macadam of slag, dross or similar industrial waste, whether or not incorporating the materials cited in the first part of the heading; tarred macadam; granules, chippings and powder, of stones of heading 2515 or 2516, whether or not heat-treated
2518 Dolomite, whether or not calcined or sintered, including dolomite roughly trimmed or merely cut, by sawing or otherwise, into blocks or slabs of a rectangular (including square) shape
2519 Natural magnesium carbonate (magnesite); fused magnesia; dead-burned (sintered) magnesia, whether or not containing small quantities of other oxides added before sintering; other magnesium oxide, whether or not pure
2520 Gypsum; anhydrite; plasters (consisting of calcined gypsum or calcium sulfate) whether or not colored, with or without small quantities of accelerators or retarders
2522 Quicklime, slaked lime and hydraulic lime, other than calcium oxide and hydroxide of heading 2825
2523 Portland cement, aluminous cement, slag cement, supersulfate cement and similar hydraulic cements, whether or not colored or in the form of clinkers
2524 Asbestos
2525 Mica, including splittings; mica waste
2526 Natural steatite, whether or not roughly trimmed or merely cut, by sawing or otherwise, into blocks or slabs of a rectangular (including square) shape; talc
2529 Feldspar; leucite, nepheline and nepheline syenite; fluorspar
2530 Mineral substances not elsewhere specified or included
Other chapters
Common questions
What does HS chapter 25 cover?
Salt; sulfur; earths and stone; plastering materials, lime and cement. It contains 29 headings and 67 six-digit subheadings, and sits in Section V (mineral products).
What is excluded from chapter 25?
2. This chapter does not cover: (a) Sublimed sulfur, precipitated sulfur or colloidal sulfur (heading 2802); (b) Earth colors containing 70 percent or more by weight of combined iron evaluated as Fe2O3 (heading 282l); (c) Medicaments or other products of chapter 30; (d) Perfumery, cosmetic or toilet preparations (chapter 33);
Are chapter 25's notes legally binding?
This chapter carries 15 binding note paragraph(s) — legal notes of the Harmonized System, plus any US-specific Additional U.S. Notes. They decide classification, and they outrank the wording of an individual subheading. A further 3 statistical note paragraph(s) govern US reporting only and are not classification law.