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💾 Data Updated: 2025 HTS Revision 30 • Last updated: November 24, 2025

1209 - Seeds, fruits and spores of a kind used for sowing:

Sub-classifications

Commodity Code
Description

Overview

This HTS category, 1209, encompasses seeds, fruits, and spores specifically intended for sowing. The defining characteristic is their purpose: to be planted to grow new plants, rather than for direct consumption or industrial processing for their inherent oils or other components. This includes a wide array of items used in agriculture, horticulture, and other plant cultivation, such as seeds for food crops, ornamental plants, and fodder.

Distinguishing this category from its siblings at the same level (which include live animals and other vegetable products), 1209 focuses solely on reproductive plant material designated for propagation. Unlike categories that might cover harvested grains or fruits for consumption (e.g., within Chapter 10 or 12), the key differentiator here is the "used for sowing" criterion, irrespective of the ultimate use of the plant that grows from it.

Within this broad category, further subdivisions exist to provide more granular classification. For example, specific types of seeds, such as those for sugar beet (1209.10.00.00) and seeds of herbaceous plants cultivated for their flowers (1209.30.00), are explicitly identified. Additionally, there are provisions for seeds of forage plants and a general residual category for "Other" seeds, fruits, and spores used for sowing, allowing for precise classification based on botanical type and intended agricultural use.

Go up to Chapter 12: Oil seeds and oleaginous fruits; miscellaneous grains, seeds and fruits; industrial or medicinal plants; straw and fodder

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