Importing from China to Nigeria: customs, SONCAP, costs 2026

According to China's ambassador to Nigeria, bilateral trade reached 18 billion dollars in the first half of 2026, up 35 percent year on year. We found no official, verifiable breakdown by product category for this period; the country remains heavily dependent on imports of finished goods.

Nigeria has applied the ECOWAS Common External Tariff since 2015, in its 2022-2026 revised version, identical for all non-ECOWAS countries: we found no bilateral free trade agreement with China in our sources. The duty-free access China granted from 1 May 2026 to 53 African countries, including Nigeria, works the other way around: it eases Nigerian exports to China, not the imports you are concerned with.

Customs is modernising clearance around a Single Window portal and the PAAR, obtained online before arrival, with a stated target of 48 hours set by the 2023 Customs Act. Goods are inspected on arrival rather than before loading, except for SONCAP products, which are checked before shipment.

The ECOWAS Common External Tariff splits goods into five duty bands, detailed below. The cumulative effective rate, duties, levies and VAT combined, exceeds 50 percent on more than eighty tariff lines: 95 percent on tobacco, 75 to 95 percent on alcohol, 85 percent on wheat, 75 percent on sugar, 70 percent on rice, 55 percent on cement, capped at 70 percent per line.

The calculation starts from the CIF value converted to naira at the Central Bank's official rate, distinct from the parallel market rate. Example: on a CIF value of 5,000,000 naira at a 20 percent duty rate, the base duty comes to 1,000,000 naira, plus the levies below, then VAT on that total. Have a freight forwarder reconfirm the exact rate before you order: the inspection levy in particular is reported by some sources to have been revised in 2026, without official confirmation.

The importer first opens a Form M with an authorised bank, which declares the transaction before shipment and gates access to official foreign exchange. For a SONCAP product, the Product Certificate comes before the Form M is opened, not after. Once loaded, the shipment is declared on the Single Window to obtain the PAAR, which speeds up customs clearance on arrival.

SONCAP, run by the Standards Organisation of Nigeria, checks before shipment that a regulated product meets a Nigerian standard or its equivalent. It works in two stages: a Product Certificate costing 500, 1,000 or 2,000 dollars depending on the exporter's status, then, for every shipment, a Certificate of Conformance issued by a body accredited to ISO/IEC 17025, which unlocks the SONCAP certificate. Registering a new product adds 350 dollars.

Food, medicines, military equipment and used goods other than vehicles are exempt from SONCAP; food, pharmaceuticals and cosmetics fall under NAFDAC instead. According to several sources, SONCAP procedures moved onto a single portal in 2026, to be confirmed on the Standards Organisation of Nigeria's website.

Nigeria bans outright weapons, counterfeit goods, used clothing, used compressors, prints deemed indecent, spirits above a set alcohol content with some exceptions, and nuclear or toxic waste. A second list requires a licence or quota for frozen poultry, pork, beef, refined oils, sugar, processed cocoa, pasta, certain fruit juices, a range of medicines, bagged cement, used tyres, corrugated paper, footwear, carpets, glass bottles, and used vehicles beyond an age limit: 15 years in the oldest customs list still documented, 12 years according to several specialist sources in 2026. The rule has been revised several times this year, so reconfirm it with your freight forwarder before shipping anything.

The Central Bank restricts access to the official foreign exchange market for rice, cement, meat, poultry, textiles and furniture, which pushes some importers toward a parallel market at a less favourable rate.

Almost all containerised freight from China passes through the Lagos area. Apapa handles most of the container traffic, Tin Can Island specialises in Ro-Ro vehicles and bulk cargo, and the new, fully automated Lekki deep-sea port takes the largest container ships. In the first half of 2026, average port dwell time there was 3.3 days, against 5.1 at Tin Can Island and 6.1 at the older Lagos port: these are port handling times, not sea transit times.

From southern China, freight most often departs from Guangzhou, Shenzhen or Yantian for Lagos; we found no single, verifiable transit time, so ask your freight forwarder at the time of booking. Air freight remains reserved for urgent or light shipments. FOB from southern China suits buyers who arrange transport themselves; CIF or CFR suits those who leave it to an intermediary as far as the Nigerian port. DDP is not advisable unless the seller is itself a licensed customs declarant in Nigeria.

On payment, the common practice is a deposit followed by a balance before shipment, paid exclusively into the Chinese company's business account, never a personal account: any change of bank details received by email should be verified with a direct phone call before any transfer. The Central Bank's official exchange rate, used at customs, often differs from the parallel rate that restricted categories rely on: that gap should be built into your landed cost from the quotation stage.

A first order follows a set sequence: specification, factory verification, approved sample, proforma invoice with an Incoterm, opening the Form M, the SONCAP file started alongside production, production follow-up, pre-shipment inspection, Certificate of Conformance then SONCAP certificate, freight, the PAAR, then arrival at port and customs clearance handled by the client or their local freight forwarder.

Sorva is a sourcing and trading house based in Guangzhou, in the Tianhe district, backed by a Chinese subsidiary whose registered scope covers buying, reselling and exporting goods, and by a parent company in France. Our Chinese-speaking team finds and verifies factories, arranges visits and samples, negotiates, has quality checked before loading, and organises freight to the Nigerian port of your choice, while gathering the documents your SONCAP file and Form M need. We never act as the official importer of record in Nigeria, do not clear goods through customs ourselves, and do not export vehicles without going through a licensed Chinese exporter. Our base service is priced in dollars, with optional add-ons priced by region, including SONCAP support quoted on request.