HS Code Browser — From Chapter 87 to 9-Digit Statistical Lines, with Cars as the Example
The HS code browser lets you traverse every level — 2-digit chapter, 4-digit heading, 6-digit subheading, 9-digit Japanese statistical line. This post uses vehicles to demonstrate.
The 4 levels
| Level | Digits | Example | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chapter | 2 | 87 | Vehicles other than railway rolling stock, and parts |
| Heading | 4 | 8703 | Passenger cars |
| Subheading | 6 | 870321 etc. | Engine-displacement subdivisions (WCO-harmonized) |
| Statistical line | 9 | 870321100 etc. | Japan-specific statistical subdivisions |
Digits 2–6 follow WCO's Harmonized System 2022 (internationally harmonized). The 9-digit lines are Japan-specific.
Drilling into vehicle exports
HS chapter 87 totaled ¥22.8T in 2024 exports. Decomposing at the heading level:
| HS4 | Content | 2024 Exports |
|---|---|---|
| 8703 | Passenger cars | ¥16.2T |
| 8708 | Vehicle parts | ¥3.9T |
| 8704 | Trucks / lorries | ¥1.3T |
So Japan's ¥22.8T "vehicle exports" headline is dominated by passenger cars (HS 8703), and the ¥7.5T US bilateral total lives mostly there. Trucks (HS 8704) and parts (HS 8708) aggregate separately.
8703 splits by engine displacement
Within HS 8703 the 6-digit codes are: 870310 (EV), 870321/22/23/24 (gasoline by displacement band), 870331/32/33 (diesel by displacement band), 870360 (plug-in hybrid), 870380 (other, incl. some BEV variants). Isolating EV / hybrid exports is a 6-digit filter.
4-digit master gaps
Japan's commodity taxonomy occasionally lacks a direct 4-digit entry (e.g. 4304); the actual data starts at 6-digit. Kouro's internal HS master normalizes this — when a 4-digit code is missing, the corresponding 6-digit XX00 is used as a display fallback, so the 4-digit page always shows a number.
What each HS code page renders
Each HS code page (e.g. /en/hs-codes/8703) is server-rendered with:
- Latest month export / import values and YoY %
- Top export destination / import source countries (most recent full year)
- Internal links to parent / sibling / child HS codes
- BreadcrumbList JSON-LD for Google's rich SERP rendering
Crawlers (and human readers landing from Google) see the numbers in the initial HTML.