Shipping from China to Nigeria — 45–60 days sea freight, duty and customs
Importing into Nigeria: Import duty 5–35% of CIF under the ECOWAS tariff, plus 7.5% VAT and levies of roughly 2% of CIF. The importer of record position: A Nigerian entity with a TIN; Form M must be opened before shipment above USD 1,000 and is valid 180 days. Before shipping, SONCAP for regulated products before shipment; NAFDAC registration for food, drugs and cosmetics. Duty and tax are assessed per commodity code, so these positions are confirmed per shipment.
45–60 days sea freight from China to Nigeria. What Nigeria requires on arrival: who may import, what duty and tax apply, and which certification and product rules must be in place.
What does Nigeria require before the cargo can be imported?
Nigeria is served from China by ocean, air and express, and the arrival-side requirements below are the part that most often changes a landed cost or holds a shipment at the port. Each position is the one we publish for this market and is confirmed per shipment against the actual commodity code and destination city.
What duty, tax and levies apply on arrival?
Duty and tax
Import duty 5–35% of CIF under the ECOWAS tariff, plus 7.5% VAT and levies of roughly 2% of CIF
Who is allowed to import into this market?
Importer of record
A Nigerian entity with a TIN; Form M must be opened before shipment above USD 1,000 and is valid 180 days
What certification or product rules must be in place before shipping?
Certification
SONCAP for regulated products before shipment; NAFDAC registration for food, drugs and cosmetics
Pre-shipment certification
SONCAP for Nigeria and PVoC for Kenya and Tanzania must be arranged before loading
How is the entry cleared on arrival?
Clearance channel
Green 3–7, Yellow 5–12 and Red 7–21 working days
How long does shipping from China to Nigeria take?
Typical door-to-door transit on this lane, by mode. These are working ranges rather than carrier-published schedules, so the exact window is confirmed on booking.
Mode
Typical transit
What it covers
Ocean freight FCL
45–60 days
Port-to-port 31–36 days (published schedules); Lagos clearance and dwell add the rest
Ocean freight LCL
42–62 days
Consolidated from Shenzhen, four sailings a week
Air freight
7–12 days
One stop via DOH, ADD, IST or CAI; 3–6 days airport to airport
Express courier
3–5 days
Door to door with DHL or FedEx
Which gateway does cargo arrive through in Africa?
The gateway is the same for every country in Africa; what changes between countries is the duty, importer and certification position above.
Destination ports
Apapa, Tin Can Island and Lekki (Lagos); Onne (Port Harcourt)
Gateway ports
Durban, Cape Town, Mombasa, Lagos (Apapa and Tin Can), Tema, Port Louis
Gateway airports
JNB, NBO, LOS, CPT
How do you turn this into a landed cost?
Duty is assessed per commodity code, so the positions above tell you what to prepare rather than what you will pay. Screen the official duty range for the HS chapter your product falls in with the HS chapter duty lookup, then put the rate for your actual code through the landed cost calculator to see duty, import tax and levies on the CIF value. Transit times, loading ports and the operating detail for this lane are on the China to Nigeria route page.
Positions reviewed 2026-09-15 by Helen Peng. Duty, importer-of-record and certification answers are confirmed per shipment: a change of commodity code, origin documentation or destination city can change the position.
Where is the rest of this lane documented?
This page covers arrival requirements only. Transit times, loading ports, container options, consolidation frequency, the stage-by-stage breakdown and the remaining questions are on the route page, so they are not repeated here.
We have not yet photographed this lane's destination operations. Rather than borrow a stock or generated picture, the slots below are left empty and labelled. They are filled only with our own photographs from this lane.
Photo to be addedArrival and handling of our cargo in NigeriaOur own photograph from this lane, once recordedPhoto to be addedFinal delivery in NigeriaOur own photograph from this lane, once recorded
Need the duty confirmed for your product?
Send the commodity, its material, its use and the destination city, and we will confirm the position.
