Chemical products n.e.c.
Chapter 38 of the Harmonised System covers Chemical products n.e.c. — 27 four-digit headings spanning artificial graphite to biodiesel and mixtures thereof that customs authorities worldwide use to classify these goods and set duty.
- India exports 2024
- $6.75B
Source: UN Comtrade — India's reported merchandise exports to the world, 2024.
Sourcing this category from India
Chapter 38 covers miscellaneous chemical products not specified elsewhere — reagents, catalysts, biodiesel, industrial preparations and chemical residues. India's diversified chemical sector exports a broad range of these specialty and composite products. As a catch-all chapter it demands careful classification, since many proprietary and mixed formulations are placed here by exclusion from earlier chemical chapters.
How to read this code
38 is the two-digit HS chapter for chemical products n.e.c.. To clear customs your destination country extends it to a full 8–10 digit code and assigns the duty rate. India's preferential trade agreements (UAE CEPA, Australia ECTA, and others) can reduce or zero out that duty on many chemicals & allied industries lines — check our import guides for your market.
Headings under HS 38
The Harmonised System breaks Chemical products n.e.c. into these 27 headings. Drill down to the exact classification for your goods.
Artificial graphite; colloidal or semi-colloidal graphite; preparations based on graphite or other carbon in the form of pastes, blocks, plates or other semi-manufactures
Activated carbon; activated natural mineral products; animal black, including spent animal black
Tall oil, whether or not refined
Residual lyes from the manufacture of wood pulp, whether or not concentrated, desugared or chemically treated, including lignin sulphonates, but excluding tall oil of heading no. 3803
Gum, wood or sulphate turpentine, other terpenic oils; crude dipentene; sulphite turpentine, other crude para-cymene; pine oil containing alpha-terpineol as the main constituent
Rosin and resin acids and derivatives thereof; rosin spirit and rosin oils; run gums
Wood tar; wood tar oils; wood creosote; wood naphtha; vegetable pitch; brewers' pitch and similar preparations based on rosin, resin acids or on vegetable pitch
Insecticides, rodenticides, fungicides, herbicides, anti-sprouting products, plant growth regulators, disinfectants and the like, put up in forms or packings for retail sale or as preparations or articles
Finishing agents, dye carriers to accelerate the dyeing, fixing of dyestuffs, other products and preparations, of a kind used in the textile, paper, leather or like industries, n.e.c. or included
Metal-pickling preparations; fluxes etc for soldering, brazing; welding powders, pastes of metal and other materials; preparations used as cores or coatings for welding electrodes or rods
Anti-knock preparations, oxidation and gum inhibitors, viscosity improvers, anti-corrosive preparations and the like, for mineral oils (including gasoline) or other liquids used for the same purposes
Prepared rubber accelerators; compound plasticisers for rubber or plastics, n.e.c. or included; anti-oxidising preparations and other compound stabilisers for rubber or plastics
Preparations and charges for fire extinguishers; charged fire-extinguishing grenades
Organic composite solvents and thinners, not elsewhere specified or included; prepared paint or varnish removers
Reaction initiators, reaction accelerators and catalytic preparations n.e.c. or included
Refractory cements, mortars, concretes and similar compositions, including dolomite ramming mix, other than products of heading 38.01
Mixed alkylbenzenes and mixed alkylnaphthalenes, other than those of heading no. 2707 or 2902
Chemical elements doped for use in electronics, in the form of discs, wafers or similar forms; chemical compounds doped for use in electronics
Hydraulic brake fluids and other prepared liquids for hydraulic transmission, not containing or containing less than 70% by weight of petroleum oils or oils obtained from bituminous minerals
Anti-freezing preparations and prepared de-icing fluids
Prepared culture media for the development or maintenance of micro-organisms (including viruses and the like) or of plant, human or animal cells
Reagents; diagnostic or laboratory reagents on a backing, prepared diagnostic or laboratory reagents whether or not on a backing, whether or not put up in the form of kits, other than those of heading 30.06; certified reference materials
Industrial monocarboxylic fatty acids; acid oils from refining; industrial fatty alcohols
Prepared binders for foundry moulds or cores; chemical products and preparations of the chemical or allied industries (including those consisting of mixtures of natural products), not elsewhere specified or included
Residual products of the chemical or allied industries, not elsewhere specified or included; municipal waste; sewage sludge; other residual products.
Biodiesel and mixtures thereof; not containing or containing less than 70% by weight of petroleum oils or oils obtained from bituminous minerals
Mixtures containing halogenated derivatives of methane, ethane or propane, not elsewhere specified or included
Top destinations for Chapter 38 exports
India's largest buyers of goods in this HS chapter in 2024, ranked by export value.
Chapter-level destination mix — your specific HS line may skew differently. Source: UN Comtrade, 2024.
Working out import duty for HS 38 into your market? See full duty context and India-vs-rivals comparisons in our India comparison guides and export resource hub.
Indian exporters in this category
Established export houses with relevant HS focus. Listings are compiled from public records — run your own due diligence.
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