What It Costs to Import into Nigeria: A Beginner's Budget

Why the goods price is only the start

Many first-time importers, especially those living in the UK, the US or Canada, compare suppliers by the price on the invoice. It is the number you see first and the easiest to compare, but it describes only the goods at the supplier's door. By the time they reach your customer or your shop in Nigeria, several other costs have been added.

The total of all of them is called the landed cost: everything it takes to bring the goods to a named place in Nigeria, ready to use or sell. It is the figure your selling price must be built on. An importer who prices from the invoice alone often discovers too late that the margin they planned has quietly disappeared.

The good news is that landed cost is not a mystery. It is a short list of lines, and each one can be asked about in advance.

The cost lines to put in your budget

Start with the order itself: the goods price and any charges the supplier adds for packing, labelling or moving the goods to the port of loading. Then add the sea or air freight, which depends on how the goods are shipped, whether alone in a container or shared with other importers, and on the route.

Next come insurance for the journey, port and terminal charges at the Nigerian port, and the shipping line's own charges at destination. After that is the customs assessment, which is worked out by Nigeria Customs Service from the declared goods, their classification and their value. Ask your forwarder to show how it is calculated for your product, because different goods are treated differently.

Finally, add the clearing and forwarding fee, haulage from the port, and delivery to your address or warehouse. If goods may wait, include a small allowance for storage or container detention. A budget that names every line is easy to check against the bills when they arrive.

How to get figures you can rely on

Ask for written estimates, line by line, before you pay your supplier. A forwarder who knows what you are importing, the quantity, the weight and the port can usually give a realistic range for freight, port handling, clearing and delivery. Share the supplier's pro forma invoice and packing details as early as you can, since estimates built on guesses are only as good as the guesses.

Ask which lines are fixed and which can change. Freight rates and exchange rates move, and customs assessment depends on the final documents. When you know which lines may shift, you can keep a sensible margin for them rather than a general fear of surprise.

Be open about your plans too. If you expect to reorder every few weeks, or to move to shared containers at first, tell your forwarder so the estimate matches how you will actually ship. A budget built for the shipment you really intend to make is far more useful than a generic one, and it gives you a baseline to compare with when prices change.

Keep your own record. A simple table with the estimate, the final figure and the difference for each line teaches you more about your next shipment than any guide can.

Where budgets go wrong

Most overruns come from a handful of causes. Goods are described loosely on the invoice, and the declaration has to be corrected. A document is missing or does not match another, so the cargo waits and storage builds. Goods are collected late because the haulage or the receiver was not arranged. Or the importer simply never costed a line, such as delivery beyond the port.

Every one of these is a planning problem rather than bad luck. A supplier invoice that describes the goods clearly, a document set checked before the vessel arrives, and a receiver ready at the destination remove most of the unplanned cost before it appears.

Start small. A first shipment of modest size lets you test your numbers, see how each line behaves and build a reliable budget for larger orders.

Planning your first import with Vandyvah

Vandyvah's customs and freight forwarding team helps first-time importers set out the cost lines for their product, review the supplier's documents before the goods ship, and coordinate clearing, release and delivery in Nigeria. You receive clear, itemised charges that you can compare with your own budget.

If you are thinking of importing, contact the operations team before you pay your supplier or the cargo ships. A short conversation about what you are buying, the port and the delivery address is the simplest way to start with a budget you can trust.