Import rules · updated 27 October 2026
Importing Brazilian sugar into Senegal: duty, permits and documents.
Senegal was the second-largest destination for Brazil’s white sugar in 2025: 375,628 tonnes. Imports are conditional, and due to stop again from November 2026. Sugar needs an import declaration for food products (the DIPA), must clear through the port of Dakar, and the Ministry of Industry and Commerce opens and closes the import window. On 17 October 2026 the ministry announced that sugar imports will stop from November 2026, when the local producer restarts production, for a planned 8 to 9 months. The window that closes was opened on 15 July 2026, after imports had been stopped from 15 December 2025. The customs duty on white sugar was 20% in the latest tariff data (2023), plus community levies and 18% VAT.
Brazil’s sugar trade with Senegal
Brazil exported 375,628 tonnes of white sugar (NCM 1701.99) to Senegal in 2025, worth 179.8 million US dollars FOB, its second-largest destination for that product.
Importing into Senegal? Send your grade, quantity and discharge port. You pay the supplier directly, never me.
Send a requirement →When imports are allowed
The government uses the import window to protect local production. In a communiqué released on 17 October 2026, reported by the national press agency APS and the daily Le Soleil, the Ministry of Industry and Commerce said it will stop issuing DIPAs for sugar from November 2026, once the Compagnie Sucrière Sénégalaise restarts production. The suspension is planned for 8 to 9 months, and the exact period will be adjusted to local production and the needs of the market. The communiqué gives no start day and mentions no exception for cargo already contracted or at sea.
The previous suspension ran from 15 December 2025 until imports reopened on 15 July 2026 (APS). The October reports date it November 2025 to August 2026; we use the dates APS gave at the time. Before you commit to a shipment, ask the ministry or your customs agent whether a DIPA can still be issued for your arrival date.
- Sugar needs a DIPA (déclaration d’importation des produits alimentaires) and a mandatory health check.
- Sugar may only be cleared at the customs offices of the port of Dakar.
- Sugar imports were also banned for a period in 2013.
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 |
| Shippers’ council levy (COSEC), sea imports | 0.4% of CIF | WTO Trade Policy Review, 2017 |
| VAT | 18% | WTO Trade Policy Review, 2017 |
Senegal has also applied a variable import tax (TCI) to sugar when the customs value falls below a trigger price. In 2017 the WTO recorded a trigger of 399,672 FCFA per tonne, with the tax charged at 10% of the gap. A February 2025 column in the daily Le Soleil reported the sugar TCI suspended in August 2024. We found no official text on its status in 2026, so ask customs.
What to confirm before you order
- Whether a DIPA can still be issued for your arrival date: imports are due to stop from November 2026.
- Whether the TCI applies, and the current levy rates.
- Labelling and any conformity certificate. We found no official statement for sugar.
Rules on this page were checked against the sources below on 27 October 2026. Duties, levies and permits change, sometimes by decree. Confirm every figure with Senegal’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, Senegal, 2023
- WTO, Trade Policy Review: West African Economic and Monetary Union, WT/TPR/S/362, 2017, Annex on Senegal: https://www.wto.org/french/tratop_f/tpr_f/s362-07_f.pdf
- UEMOA, PCS rate maintained at 0.8%, 30 Jul 2018: https://www.uemoa.int/
- APS, sugar imports authorised from 15 July, 13 Jul 2026: https://aps.sn/le-gouvernement-va-autoriser-les-importations-de-sucre-a-partir-du-mercredi-15-juillet/
- APS, sugar imports to stop again from November, ministry communiqué of 17 Oct 2026, as republished by allAfrica (the headline says ‘levée’; the text describes a suspension): https://fr.allafrica.com/stories/202610170259.html
- Le Soleil (Dakar), the state suspends imports again from November, 19 Oct 2026: https://lesoleil.sn/actualites/economie/sucre-letat-suspend-a-nouveau-les-importations-a-partir-de-novembre/
- Senegal Commerce, import procedures (updated 8 Jun 2026): https://senegalcommerce.sec.gouv.sn/ProceduresImportDetails.aspx
- Le Soleil (Dakar), opinion column on the TCI, 25 Feb 2025: https://lesoleil.sn/
Checked on 27 October 2026. Rules and web pages change; check the source before you rely on a detail.