Import rules · updated 11 October 2026
Importing Brazilian sugar into Benin: duty, permits and documents.
Benin took 205,480 tonnes of Brazil’s white sugar in 2025. We found no sugar-specific licence or quota, and imports are open by sea, through the port of Cotonou; in 2016 a temporary ban stopped sugar coming in by land. The customs duty on white sugar was 20% in the latest tariff data (2023), plus a 1% statistical charge and the 0.5% ECOWAS levy (rates recorded in 2017) and the 0.8% UEMOA solidarity levy (2018). Imports are cleared with a documentary verification certificate from Benin Control.
Brazil’s sugar trade with Benin
Brazil exported 205,480 tonnes of white sugar (NCM 1701.99) to Benin in 2025, worth 90.0 million US dollars FOB, and no raw sugar. In 2017 the WTO recorded Nigeria as one of Benin’s main markets for re-exports.
Importing into Benin? Send your grade, quantity and discharge port. You pay the supplier directly, never me.
Send a requirement →Duty and taxes
| Charge | Rate | Source and date |
|---|---|---|
| Customs duty | 20% | WITS, 2023 |
| Statistical charge | 1% | WTO Trade Policy Review, 2017 |
| ECOWAS community levy | 0.5% | WTO Trade Policy Review, 2017 |
| UEMOA solidarity levy (PCS) | 0.8% | UEMOA, 2018 |
| VAT | 18% standard rate; whether it applies to sugar is not confirmed | WTO Trade Policy Review, 2017 |
| IT charge | 10,000 FCFA per declaration | WTO Trade Policy Review, 2017 |
Goods re-exported from Benin paid re-export taxes of about 10% of FOB value in total in 2016 (WTO, 2017).
Clearance and inspection
- In 2016 sugar was under a temporary ban on imports by land (WTO, 2017; one passage says land or river), so in practice it arrives by sea through Cotonou.
- Clearance at the port uses a documentary verification certificate (AVD) from Benin Control. Benin customs’ October 2022 manual for Cotonou airport requires the AVD for goods worth 500,000 FCFA FOB or more and does not exempt sugar; confirm the threshold for sea cargo.
- The advance declaration is filed on the single window (GUCE), followed by the customs declaration in ASYCUDA World.
What to confirm before you order
- That no sugar import authorisation has been added in 2026, with Benin customs or the Ministry of Industry and Commerce.
- Whether VAT applies to sugar, and the current levy rates.
- Your Benin Control certificate (AVD).
- Labelling and standards, with the national standards agency (ANM). We found no official statement for sugar.
Rules on this page were checked against the sources below on 11 October 2026. Duties, levies and permits change, sometimes by decree. Confirm every figure with Benin’s customs authority before you order. See all countries.
Know your permits and your port? That is everything I need to request a current supplier response.
Send a requirement →Sources
- ComexStat (MDIC), Brazilian exports by NCM 1701.99.00 and 1701.14.00, January–December 2025, via api-comexstat.mdic.gov.br, retrieved 29 Sep 2026
- World Bank WITS / UNCTAD TRAINS, MFN tariff for HS 170199, Benin, 2023
- WTO, Trade Policy Review: WAEMU, WT/TPR/S/362, 2017, Annex on Benin: https://www.wto.org/french/tratop_f/tpr_f/s362-01_f.pdf
- UEMOA summit, Lomé, 30 Jul 2018, PCS kept at 0.8%, as reported by Sidwaya: https://www.sidwaya.info/uemoa-l-le-taux-du-prelevement-communautaire-de-solidarite-maintenu-a-08/
- Benin customs (DGD), clearance at the port of Cotonou: https://douanes.gouv.bj/en/professional_service/dedouanement-et-enlevement-des-marchandises-au-port-de-cotonou/; procedure manual for the Cotonou airport customs office, Oct 2022: https://douanes.gouv.bj/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/PROCEDURE-AEROPORT-DGD-GUCE-vf1.pdf
Checked on 11 October 2026. Rules and web pages change; check the source before you rely on a detail.