Analysis
HTS 1604.32.40 covers caviar substitutes: other under heading 1604 (prepared or preserved fish; caviar and caviar substitutes prepared from fish eggs).
Within this group the rate runs from duty-free to 35%. Compared with 1604.14.10 (in airtight containers: in oil), which pays 35%, a misclassification either way moves the duty by 35 percentage points.
The normal trade relations rate here is zero, shared by about 46% of the 108 tariff lines in chapter 16, a useful check when a neighbouring dutiable line is a candidate. Free here means free of the base duty only: origin-specific Chapter 99 duties such as Section 301 can still be owed.
Census statistics map these goods to NAICS 311710 (Seafood Product Preparation and Packaging), an industry of 516 US establishments employing 29,132 people. That concordance is how imports of this line are compared with US output.
Every edition we compared, from Jan 2023 to Oct 2026 (Rev. 22), shows the same general rate of Free.
Neighbouring lines
| Line | Description | General rate |
|---|---|---|
| 1604.11.20 | In oil, in airtight containers | 6% |
| 1604.11.40 | Salmon: other | Free |
| 1604.12.20 | In oil, in airtight containers | 4% |
| 1604.12.40 | In tomato sauce, smoked or kippered, and in immediate containers weighing with their contents over 0.45 kg each | Free |
| 1604.12.60 | Other: other | Free |
| 1604.13.10 | Smoked sardines, neither skinned nor boned, valued $1 or more per kg in tin- plate containers, or $1.10 or more per kg in other containers | Free |
| 1604.13.20 | Neither skinned nor boned | 15% |
| 1604.13.30 | Other: skinned or boned | 20% |
| 1604.13.40 | In immediate containers weighing with their contents under 225 grams each | Free |
| 1604.13.90 | Other: other | 3.1% |
| 1604.14.10 | In airtight containers: in oil | 35% |
| 1604.14.22 | In containers weighing with their contents not over 7 kg each, and not the product of any insular possession of the United States, for an aggregate quantity entered in any calendar year not to exceed 4.8 percent of apparent United States consumption of tuna in airtight containers during the immediately preceding year, as reported by the National Marine Fisheries Service | 6% |
| 1604.14.30 | Not in oil: other | 12.5% |
| 1604.14.40 | In bulk or in immediate containers weighing with their contents over 6.8 kg each, not in oil | 1.1¢/kg |
| 1604.14.50 | Not in airtight containers: other | 6% |
| 1604.14.70 | Bonito (Sarda spp.): in oil | 4.9% |
| 1604.14.80 | Bonito (Sarda spp.): not in oil | 6% |
| 1604.15.00 | Fish, whole or in pieces, but not minced: mackerel | 3% |
| 1604.16.20 | In oil, in airtight containers | Free |
| 1604.16.40 | In immediate containers weighing with their contents 6.8 kg or less each | 5% |
| 1604.16.60 | Other: other | Free |
| 1604.17.10 | In airtight containers | 4% |
| 1604.17.40 | Neither cooked nor in oil | 10% |
| 1604.17.50 | Fish sticks and similar products of any size or shape, fillets or other portions of fish, if breaded, coated with batter or similarly prepared: other | 7.5% |
| 1604.17.60 | In oil and in bulk or in immediate containers over 7 kg each | Free |
| 1604.17.80 | Other: other | 6% |
| 1604.18.10 | In airtight containers | 4% |
| 1604.18.90 | Shark fins: other | 6% |
| 1604.19.10 | Bonito, yellowtail and pollock | 4% |
| 1604.19.22 | Not in oil: other | 4% |
| 1604.19.25 | Bonito, yellowtail and pollock | 5% |
| 1604.19.32 | In oil: other | 4% |
| 1604.19.41 | Neither cooked nor in oil | 10% |
| 1604.19.51 | Fish sticks and similar products of any size or shape, fillets or other portions of fish, if breaded, coated with batter or similarly prepared: other | 7.5% |
| 1604.19.61 | In oil and in bulk or in immediate containers weighing with their contents over 7 kg each | Free |
| 1604.19.82 | Other: other | 6% |
| 1604.20.05 | Products containing meat of crustaceans, molluscs or other aquatic invertebrates; prepared meals | 5% |
| 1604.20.10 | Other: pastes | Free |
| 1604.20.15 | Balls, cakes and puddings: in oil | Free |
| 1604.20.20 | In airtight containers | Free |