The African Sesame Industry and the Chinese Tariff Exemption

This working paper analyses the African sesame export supply chain to China and assesses the impact of the tariff exemption granted by Peking to African least developed countries (LDCs) since 2005. Drawing on the Comtrade and FAO databases, it shows that China, having become a net importer in 2004, now relies on Africa for more than 80% of its sesame seed imports, as its own production has declined sharply. Six countries account for 95% of African exports to China: Niger, Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Mozambique and Ethiopia. This working paper also highlights tariff circumvention phenomena, notably Nigerian transit through Niger and Beninese or Ivorian transit through Togo, which renders origin statistics unreliable. The extension of the exemption to non-LDC countries from 1 May 2026 is not expected to have much effect, as these countries represent less than 0.4% of Chinese imports of African sesame, and their commercial networks are oriented towards other markets. Ultimately, it is Chinese importer-processors rather than African producers who benefit most from the tariff advantage, without altering the structure of a supply chain built on the export of raw materials from Africa and industrial processing in China.