Importing Brazilian sugar into Yemen: duty, permits and documents.

Brazil’s sugar trade with Yemen

Brazil exported 197,907 tonnes of white sugar (NCM 1701.99) to Yemen in 2025, worth 90.0 million US dollars FOB, its tenth-largest destination for that product by tonnage.

Ports and inspection

• Hodeidah, Saleef and Ras Isa. Commercial ships bound for these ports are cleared by UNVIM, the UN Verification and Inspection Mechanism, which was still operating in 2026; its August 2026 report shows vessels discharging at all three. Clearance requests go in no later than five days before arrival, and containers are physically inspected in Djibouti.
• Aden and Mukalla. Clearances for these ports are handled by the government’s Ministry of Transport, not UNVIM. World Bank figures show a larger share of Yemen’s imports going through them in 2025: imports through Houthi-controlled ports fell to 65% of the total in the first nine months, from 75% a year earlier.
• Security. On 2 October 2026 WFP said renewed conflict had cut off access to parts of Ta’iz and Hodeidah. Check war-risk insurance and freight terms for the Red Sea before you fix a vessel.

Payment and banking

• The US Treasury sanctioned Yemen Kuwait Bank for Trade and Investment on 17 January 2025 and International Bank of Yemen on 17 April 2025, both based in Sana’a.
• OFAC’s General License 22A authorises transactions involving the Houthis that are needed to supply agricultural commodities, including food, to Yemen. It does not authorise payments to blocked persons other than taxes, duties and similar official charges, or dealings with other sanctioned parties such as the two banks above.
• According to the central bank in Aden, eight banks have moved their headquarters from Sana’a to Aden, which the World Bank says disrupted trade finance. In mid-August 2025 the central bank in Sana’a told financial institutions not to process import transactions with firms in government-controlled areas (World Bank, Fall 2025).

A letter of credit from a Yemeni bank works only if the supplier’s bank accepts it, and many banks will want it confirmed by an international bank. Ask your bank first whether it can issue one for Yemen and get it confirmed.

Duty and taxes

The applied duty data stops in 2017, and we could not confirm whether the authorities in Aden and Sana’a charge the same rates. Get the current rate from Yemen Customs for your port.

What to confirm before you order

• Who controls your discharge port, and the UNVIM timeline if it is Hodeidah, Saleef or Ras Isa.
• That no bank in the payment chain is sanctioned, and that your bank and the supplier’s bank will handle a Yemen payment.
• The duty and taxes in force, with Yemen Customs.
• Labelling, conformity certificate and import licence, with the Yemen Standardization, Metrology and Quality Control Organization and the Ministry of Industry and Trade. We found no official statement for sugar.
• War-risk insurance and freight for the Red Sea.

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 Yemen’s customs authority before you order. See all countries.