Last updated 6 November 2026 · every figure recomputed from the sources listed at the foot of this page
Avocado Tariff: 11.2 Cents per Kilogram, and the 25% That Can Stack on It
Every “avocado tariff” page on the first page of results quotes a percentage. The US schedule does not charge one. Heading 0804.40.00 charges 11.2¢/kg — a specific duty, denominated in cents per kilogram of actual weight. This page converts that number into the percentage a reader is actually looking for, at six invoice values, and then adds the two overlays that can land on the same entry.
The rate is per kilogram, not per dollar
Heading 0804.40 covers avocados, fresh or dried. All 4 lines of it carry the same general rate of 11.2¢/kg and the same Column 2 rate of 33.1¢/kg; the statistical suffixes split certified organic from the residual basket, but they do not move the rate.
This table is wider than the screen: scroll it sideways to reach every column.
| HTS line | General rate | Column 2 rate | Unit | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0804.40.00 | 11.2¢/kg | 33.1¢/kg | — | Avocados |
| 0804.40.00.20 | 11.2¢/kg | 33.1¢/kg | kg | Certified organic |
| 0804.40.00.40 | 11.2¢/kg | 33.1¢/kg | kg | Other |
| 0804.40.00.90 | 11.2¢/kg | 33.1¢/kg | kg | Other |
Source: USITC · checked .
Because the duty is charged per kilogram, it is completely insensitive to the invoice value. That single fact explains most of the confusion around this product: two importers paying the same cents per kilogram can be paying wildly different percentages of their invoice, and both are correct.
What 11.2 cents per kilogram is worth as a percentage
Divide the per-kilogram duty by the per-kilogram value and the ad valorem equivalent falls out. At low values the specific duty is punishing; at high values it is nearly invisible:
This table is wider than the screen: scroll it sideways to reach every column.
| Value per kg | General rate as % of value | Column 2 rate as % of value |
|---|---|---|
| $0.60 | 18.67% | 55.17% |
| $1.00 | 11.20% | 33.10% |
| $1.50 | 7.47% | 22.07% |
| $2.50 | 4.48% | 13.24% |
| $5.00 | 2.24% | 6.62% |
| $10.00 | 1.12% | 3.31% |
Source: USITC · checked .
Read the first row and the last together. At $0.60 per kilogram the duty is 18.67%, which is higher than the general rate on most manufactured goods. At 10.00 per kilogram the same statutory rate is 1.12% — an order of magnitude lower in effective terms, with no change to the law. A percentage-quoting competitor page can only be right at one of those two points.
The three price points where the specific rate crosses a percentage
A reader who wants to compare this line against an ad valorem duty needs the crossover prices, and they are exact rather than approximate. The statutory rate of 11.2 cents per kilogram equals:
- a 5 percent ad valorem duty when the goods are worth $2.24 per kilogram;
- a 10 percent ad valorem duty at $1.12 per kilogram;
- a 25 percent ad valorem duty at $0.448 per kilogram.
Below those prices the specific duty is the harsher instrument; above them it is the gentler one. That is the entire policy story of specific duties in one line: they are regressive in value terms, and the crossover price is where the regressivity starts. For avocados, a market where the per-kilogram price swings by a factor of several within a season, the effective duty rate swings by the same factor — and no fixed percentage can describe it.
One container, priced end to end
Take a 20,000 kg shipment at $1.20 per kilogram. The customs value is $24,000.00. The duty is a straight multiplication of weight by the statutory rate, and the fees are ad valorem on the value:
This table is wider than the screen: scroll it sideways to reach every column.
| Line | Amount | As % of the invoice |
|---|---|---|
| Customs value (20,000 kg x $1.20) | $24,000.00 | 100.00% |
| Duty at 11.2 cents/kg | $2,240.00 | 9.33% |
| MPF (0.3464% clamped to $34.58-$670.86) | $83.14 | 0.35% |
| HMF (0.125%) | $30.00 | 0.12% |
| Total duty and fees | $2,353.14 | 9.80% |
| If the same goods were of China (+7.5% Section 301 on the value) | $4,153.14 | 17.30% |
Source: CBP / Federal Register / 26 U.S.C. 4461 · checked .
The duty comes to $2,240.00, or 9.33 percent of the invoice. The two fees add $113.14 more, and the total of $2,353.14 is 9.80 percent of value. That is the number a landed-cost model needs, and it cannot be reached from a percentage alone: the duty depends on weight and the fees depend on value, so the two move independently when the price of avocados moves.
The overlays that can land on the same entry
A base rate is not the whole bill. Three further layers can attach to the same avocado entry, and they do not all move together:
This table is wider than the screen: scroll it sideways to reach every column.
| Layer | HTS heading | Rate | Applies when |
|---|---|---|---|
| Base duty | 0804.40.00 | 11.2¢/kg | every entry |
| Section 301 (China) | 9903.88.15 | +7.5% | goods of China, per U.S. note 20(s) |
| U.S. note 2 (Mexico) | 9903.01.01 | +25% | products of Mexico not described in 9903.01.02-.05 |
| U.S. note 2 carve-out (Mexico) | 9903.01.04 | No change | goods entered free of duty under general note 11 (USMCA) |
| Column 2 | 0804.40.00 | 33.1¢/kg | goods of countries without normal trade relations |
Source: USITC (United States International Trade Commission) · checked .
The Section 301 layer is the largest of them. Heading 9903.88.15 adds 7.5 percent to goods of China, per U.S. note 20(s), and it is ad valorem — so on the container above it adds $1,800.00 and takes the total to $4,153.14, or 17.30 percent of value. Note the asymmetry that creates: the specific base duty is heaviest at low prices while the ad valorem overlay is unchanged by price, so the two layers dominate at opposite ends of the market.
The Mexico layer, and the carve-out that usually applies
Mexico is the dominant origin for US avocado imports, and U.S. note 2 puts a 25 percent additional duty on products of Mexico under heading 9903.01.01. That sounds like it lands on every avocado shipment from Mexico. It usually does not: heading 9903.01.04 states that the additional duty does not apply to articles entered free of duty under the terms of general note 11 to the schedule — the USMCA provisions — and 4 further headings in the note carve out specific categories. Qualifying avocado shipments from Mexico therefore enter under the general rate with no note-2 overlay, provided the origin claim is properly made. An entry that fails to make the claim pays the overlay on top of the per-kilo duty.
Note the exemption list is not a rate list: 9903.01.02, 9903.01.03 and 9903.01.04 read “the duty provided in the applicable subheading” or “No change”, while 9903.01.05 sets 10 percent for potash specifically. Treating all five headings as interchangeable is the same class of error as treating a flat rate as an additional one.
Column 2, for completeness
Goods of countries outside normal trade relations pay 33.1¢/kg per kilogram instead of 11.2¢/kg — on the container above that would be $6,620.00 instead of $2,240.00. The Column 2 column is not a historical curiosity; it is a live rate column that applies to every line in the schedule for the countries named in general note 3(b).
Why the weight ticket, not the invoice, is the operative document
For an ad valorem duty the invoice is the document that decides the bill; for a specific duty it is the scale ticket. That is not a technicality. CBP determines the dutiable quantity from the entry documentation, and for a per-kilogram rate the quantity field on the entry summary is the multiplier. A weight discrepancy of five percent moves the duty by five percent while leaving the fees unchanged, and the fees are computed on a value the weight does not touch.
Two practical consequences follow. First, packaging weight counts unless the tariff language says otherwise: the rate is on the weight of the imported article as entered, not on the net edible yield. Second, because the rate is fixed in cents while the value floats, an importer cannot manage this duty by managing invoice price at all — only volume, origin and classification move it. That is the opposite of the lever most importers reach for first.
What the ad valorem equivalent does not capture
A converted percentage is a communication device, not a legal one. The entry is liquidated at cents per kilogram; if the price of avocados doubles between the entry date and liquidation, the duty does not move, and the effective rate the importer reports afterwards will halve without any document changing. That is why a landed-cost model built on the equivalent percentage has to re-derive it for every shipment rather than storing it as a parameter — a stored equivalent is a stored assumption about price.
The same caution applies to the reverse direction. A competitor page that says “avocados face an 18.67 percent tariff” is quoting the equivalent at the cheapest price in this page's table and presenting it as a property of the product. At the most expensive price in the same table the same statute produces 1.12%. Both numbers are arithmetically correct and neither is a rate the law contains.
Checking an avocado entry in four steps
One: weigh the shipment — the duty is on kilograms, so the scale ticket is the operative document. Two: confirm the origin and whether an FTA claim will be made; that decides whether the note-2 overlay applies. Three: check whether the goods are of China, which is the only origin with a Section 301 row on this line. Four: price the whole thing in the duty calculator, which applies MPF and HMF on the value while the duty itself stays on weight.
For the general mechanics of specific and compound duties, read specific and compound tariffs; for how a specific duty behaves at different price points across the whole schedule, see the per-kilogram cliff. To price a different product, start from the HS code browser.
Frequently asked questions
- What is the US tariff on avocados?
- HTS heading 0804.40.00 charges a specific duty of 11.2¢/kg on the weight of the shipment, not a percentage of its value. The Column 2 rate for countries outside normal trade relations is 33.1¢/kg.
- How much is 11.2 cents per kilogram as a percentage?
- It depends entirely on the price. At $0.60 per kilogram it is 18.67%; at $1.50 per kilogram it is 7.47%; at $10.00 per kilogram it is 1.12%. The statutory rate never changes -- only the value it is compared against.
- Do avocados from Mexico pay an additional tariff?
- U.S. note 2 imposes a 25 percent additional duty on products of Mexico under heading 9903.01.01, but heading 9903.01.04 exempts articles entered free of duty under general note 11 (USMCA). Qualifying Mexican avocado shipments therefore pay only the per-kilogram rate, provided the origin claim is made.
- Do avocados from China pay Section 301?
- Yes: heading 9903.88.15 adds 7.5 percent to goods of China, per U.S. note 20(s). That overlay is ad valorem, so unlike the base duty it scales with the invoice value rather than the weight.
- What does a 20,000 kg container of avocados pay?
- At $1.20 per kilogram the customs value is $24,000.00. Duty at 11.2 cents per kilogram is $2,240.00; MPF is $83.14 and HMF is $30.00, for $2,353.14 total -- 9.80 percent of the invoice.
- Which preference programs cover heading 0804.40?
- The special column lists 17 program codes, from A+ through SG, all at Free. A qualifying origin therefore pays nothing at all -- but the claim has to be made on the entry; nothing is automatic.
Sources
- CBP / Federal Register / 26 U.S.C. 4461 — data/entry_fees.json -- MPF/HMF parameters, FY2027 (read 2026-10-16T13:28:41Z)
- USITC — Chapter 8 REST export (heading 0804.40 avocados) (read 2026-11-06T22:57:15Z, sha256 d313d67b2feaaa4e…)
- USITC (United States International Trade Commission) — Chapter 99 REST export, read live by this task (read 2026-11-06T22:57:19Z, sha256 e55de042e0cb6b67…)
Every figure above is recomputed from the datasets listed here at render time; the dataset vintage and each source's check timestamp are printed with it. This page extends the prototype that already earns search traffic on the same mechanism. Rates are informational, not a binding customs determination: confirm the classification and the entry with CBP before shipping.