Importing from China to Chad: customs, VAT and the Douala corridor in 2026

Chad has no coastline at all: all goods from China arrive there via a neighbouring country, overwhelmingly Cameroon, before a road journey of several hundred kilometres to N'Djamena. This constraint steers demand towards products whose added value clearly outweighs the extra logistics cost.

China exported 545.81 million dollars worth of goods to Chad in 2025, according to the United Nations Comtrade database, led by electrical and electronic equipment (118.48 million dollars), vehicles (101.30 million), machinery (59.21 million), iron and steel articles (34.24 million), plastics (27.86 million) and footwear (24.69 million).

Chad is a member of the Economic and Monetary Community of Central Africa, CEMAC, and of the Economic Community of Central African States, ECCAS. Like Cameroon, it has fallen since 1 January 2026 under the new unified ECCAS-CEMAC common external tariff, approved on 18 October 2024 by ECCAS's eleven member states. No bilateral Chad-China agreement lowering import duties has been identified.

Chad is classed among the least developed countries under the UN classification, a category for which China has applied zero customs duty on almost all tariff lines since 1 December 2024. This exemption benefits Chadian exports to China, cotton and livestock in particular, not the duties Chad levies on what it imports. Chad has also ratified the African Continental Free Trade Area, AfCFTA, counted among the 50 signatories that had deposited their instruments of ratification by the end of September 2026: an agreement that lowers duties between African countries, not those on goods coming from China.

The new ECCAS-CEMAC common external tariff, in force since 1 January 2026, ranges from 0 to 40% depending on the tariff line. Before this reform, a United Nations logistics assessment placed Chad's CEMAC tariff in four bands, 5% for essential goods, 10% for raw materials and equipment, 20% for intermediate goods, 30% for consumer goods, for an average close to 18%. These older rates remain a useful benchmark if the new schedule has not yet been applied to your tariff line: to be reconfirmed with Chadian customs or a freight forwarder.

Chadian VAT stands at 18% on ordinary transactions, calculated on the CIF value plus customs duty; a reduced rate of 9% exists for a list of local products, and an exemption applies to exports, international transport and certain essential products, medicines, milk, meat, rice and flour. As in Cameroon, a member of the same zone, small community taxes probably also apply to the CIF value, the CEMAC integration tax, the OHADA contribution, the customs IT fee: their exact rates for Chad could not be confirmed in our sources, so have your freight forwarder check them before ordering.

A standard import rests on an original commercial invoice, around four copies drawn up in the country's administrative language, detailing the exporter, consignee, description, quantities, weight and declared value, a certificate of origin issued by a recognised chamber of commerce, in two copies, a packing list, and a bill of lading or air waybill stating the consignee's name and address, according to a United Nations logistics assessment. A health or halal certificate is added for meat and poultry, and a phytosanitary certificate for plant-based food products.

Chadian customs agents also rely, to speed up clearance, on the electronic cargo tracking note, the BESC or ECTN, issued at the point of departure. Chadian customs, the DGDDI, has seven regional directorates, 31 main offices, 32 secondary offices and 58 control posts; a request for exemption from duties and taxes is processed within 7 to 10 working days, and a transit file in under two hours.

We found no evidence in our sources of a Chadian standards body playing a role comparable to Cameroon's ANOR, nor of an official, dated list of products subject to compulsory certification before import. The exact status of a product, food, electrical goods and building materials in particular, is worth checking with Chad's Ministry of Commerce and Industry before placing an order.

Cameroon remains the dominant import route: around 80% of Chadian imports, worth close to 2.19 billion dollars in 2021, pass through its ports. The port of Douala-Bonaberi lies around 790 kilometres from the Chadian border, a seven-day road journey for a loaded truck; the deep-water port of Kribi, around 846 kilometres away, offers a comparable lead time. A dry port exists at N'Guéli, 10 kilometres from N'Djamena, which also doubles as a regional market.

Alternative corridors exist on paper: the port of Lome, in Togo, 2,135 kilometres from N'Djamena, remains little used given costs and transit times that are hard to estimate; Port Sudan, 2,250 kilometres away via El Geneina, has seen its usefulness weakened by the 2023 armed conflict; the Libyan route is now considered almost impassable for security reasons. For freight leaving southern China, Guangzhou, Shenzhen or Yantian, allow for a sea leg to Douala or Kribi followed by overland carriage to N'Djamena. FOB at the Chinese port, combined with a freight forwarder who handles the rest of the journey to Chad, keeps visibility over each step; DDP never relieves the Chadian importer of their declaration obligations.

Chad uses the CEMAC zone's CFA franc, pegged to the euro at a fixed rate since 1999. Payments to a Chinese factory are settled in dollars or yuan, exclusively into the company's business account, never a personal account; a change of bank details received by email should be checked by a direct phone call before any transfer.

A first order follows a stable sequence: specification document, factory verification, approved sample, proforma invoice with the chosen Incoterm, deposit, production monitoring, pre-shipment inspection, freight to Douala or Kribi, choice of freight forwarder for the overland corridor, then gathering the clearance documents before the Chadian border, a step that remains in the hands of the customer or their local freight forwarder.

Sorva is a sourcing and trading house, from China to the world, our Chinese-speaking team based in Guangzhou, in the Tianhe district, backed by a Chinese subsidiary licensed to buy, resell and export goods, and a parent company in France. For a Chadian client, we find and vet factories, arrange visits and samples, negotiate, have quality checked before loading, and organise freight to the chosen Cameroonian port. We never act as the official importer in Chad and do not clear goods locally. Our base offer is invoiced in dollars, with regional options quoted on request. Contact: WhatsApp +33 6 15 55 62 52, [email protected].