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April 2025, question 70

Valuation, Appraisement and Duty Assessment · Duties, MPF, HMF and calculations

Your client is importing a shipment of blended syrups containing sugars derived from cane sugar with added yellow color but no added flavoring. The blended syrup (sirup) is capable of further mixing and is packaged consistent with the needs of commercial carbonated beverage manufacturers in 30-gallon drums and is not packaged consistent with marketing to the ultimate consumer. The syrup was manufactured in the British Virgin Islands and imported directly from the British Virgin Islands. The merchandise will be properly classified under subheading 2106.90.4400, HTSUS. The quota is open. There are 50 drums total. The net weight of the 50 drums of syrup is 4,770 kilograms. The raw (total) sugar weight is 4,436 kilograms. How much will the estimated duty be?

  1. $0.00 because the merchandise is being imported from an insular possession of the United States.
  2. $0.00 because the merchandise is a product of a country designated as a beneficiary country under the Caribbean Basin Economic Recovery Act (CBERA) and the special program indicator of “E*” appears in the Special column of the Column 1 duty rate.
  3. $162.38
  4. $174.61
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CBP's answer: C. C: $162.38

The blended syrup is cane-sugar syrup with added color, so it is in 2106.90.44, whose general rate is 3.6606 cents per kg of total sugars. Raw (total) sugar weighs 4,436 kg, and 4,436 x $0.036606 = $162.38. The $174.61 choice wrongly uses the 4,770 kg net weight. The special E* rate does not help because General Note 7(d)(ii) excludes sirups in 2106.90.44 to the extent limited by additional U.S. note 4 of Chapter 17, and the British Virgin Islands is not a U.S. insular possession.

Syrups derived from cane or beet sugar, containing added coloring but not added flavoring matter 2106.90.4400
3.6606¢/kg of total sugars 2106.90.4400
sugars, sirups and molasses, provided for in heading 1701 and subheadings 1702.90.20 and 2106.90.44, to the extent that importation and duty-free treatment of such articles are limited by additional U.S. note 4 of chapter 17 General Note 7

Search for: Described in additional U.S. note 5 to chapter 17

CBP's key cites: General Note 7; Chapter 17, Additional U.S. Note 4; Chapter 17, Additional U.S. Note 5; HTSUS 2106.90.4400

Question and key from CBP's April 2025 exam and answer key. The walk-through is ours; quotes are from the pinned editions in the reference viewer (HTSUS 2026 Basic, 19 CFR 2025 edition).