HS 820559 covers hardware tools. The customs records we licence use this code to classify the product. Ask us which of your target markets publish shipment detail for it.
HS codes are supposed to make products comparable across borders. In practice they do not, for one simple reason: the code is filled in by the importer, not by a central authority. The same product gets filed under different codes by different importers, and often under none at all.
So a search by HS code alone will miss shipments. On bill-of-lading records in particular, the code is frequently blank or wrong, and a keyword search on the goods description finds more. On declaration records the code is usually reliable — the difference comes from the data source, not from how carefully you search.
What we do about it: we search both ways and merge the results, rather than trusting one code. Tell us the product and we will tell you which approach finds more in each market.
Tell us the product and the market. We will reply with what the records actually contain for it — which markets have shipment detail, which have statistics only, and what a working list would look like. No charge, and no obligation.