Analysis
HTS 2620.30.00 covers containing mainly copper under heading 2620 (slag, ash and residues (other than from the manufacture of iron or steel), containing…). US Customs collects import statistics for it under 5 ten-digit suffixes, reported in Cu kg.
Within this group the rate runs from duty-free to 5%. Compared with 2620.60.10 (of a kind used only for the extraction of arsenic or the manufacture…), which pays 5%, a misclassification either way moves the duty by 5 percentage points.
The normal trade relations rate here is zero, shared by about 97% of the 39 tariff lines in chapter 26, 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.
The ten-digit suffixes separate copper content, lead content, zinc content, silver content and gold content. The duty is the same across them; the suffix matters for statistics, licensing and some quotas, and an entry needs all ten digits.
Census statistics map these goods to NAICS 331410 (Nonferrous Metal (except Aluminum) Smelting and Refining), an industry of 112 US establishments employing 8,755 people. That concordance is how imports of this line are compared with US output.
Statistical suffixes
Neighbouring lines
| Line | Description | General rate |
|---|---|---|
| 2620.11.00 | Containing mainly zinc: hard zinc spelter | Free |
| 2620.19.30 | Zinc dross and zinc skimmings | Free |
| 2620.19.60 | Other: other | 0.7¢/kg on copper content + 0.7¢/kg on lead content |
| 2620.21.00 | Leaded gasoline sludges and leaded anti-knock compound sludges | Free |
| 2620.29.00 | Containing mainly lead: other | Free |
| 2620.40.00 | Containing mainly aluminum | Free |
| 2620.60.10 | Of a kind used only for the extraction of arsenic or the manufacture of its chemical compounds | 5% |
| 2620.60.90 | Containing arsenic, mercury, thallium or their mixtures, of a kind used for the extraction of arsenic or those metalsor for the manufacture of their chemical compounds: other | Free |
| 2620.91.00 | Containing antimony, beryllium, cadmium, chromium or their mixtures | Free |
| 2620.99.10 | Containing mainly vanadium | Free |
| 2620.99.20 | Containing mainly tungsten | 17.6¢/kg on tungsten content + 3.8% |
| 2620.99.30 | Materials not provided for elsewhere in this heading containing by weight over 10 percent nickel | Free |
| 2620.99.50 | Slag containing by weight over 40 percent titanium, and which if containing over 2 percent by weight of copper, lead, or zinc is not to be treated for the recovery thereof | Free |
| 2620.99.75 | Other: other materials which are residues not advanced in value or condition by any means, and which if containing over 2 percent by weight of copper, lead or zinc are not to be treated for the recovery thereof | Free |
| 2620.99.85 | Other: other | Free |