Export Markets
FMCG Depot ships to buyers in 60+ countries. The corridors below are the ones we document in most detail: the lanes carrying the heaviest volume out of Belgium and the most specific paperwork at the other end.
Ask an exporter which markets it serves and you get a list of countries, which tells a buyer nothing. What matters is what changes at your border: whether an agreement lets you pay less duty and on what evidence, which conformity step has to finish before the vessel sails, and what language the label carries.
Loading out of Antwerp and Rotterdam
Aalter sits in East Flanders within reach of both gateways, so which port loads your goods is settled in the quotation, not fixed in advance. Which one a consignment uses follows the sailing that fits your lane, or your forwarder's nomination — see our comparison of the two North Sea gateways and how goods leave us.
Not every market here is a container market: short-sea and road corridors make pallet and part-load orders economic in a way deep-sea lanes do not, because a half-empty box to West Africa costs what a full one costs.
Incoterms, and the papers that travel with the goods
EXW, FOB, CIF and DAP are all available, and the choice usually follows the destination's clearing habits. Gulf and African corridors go CIF to a named discharge port, because the buyer wants one delivered figure to set against a local landed cost; British buyers ask for DAP; free-port buyers with their own carrier contracts buy FOB Antwerp.
Each consignment leaves with an export declaration, commercial invoice, packing list and transport document. Beyond that the file is built from what the destination requires: origin evidence, conformity or registration certificates, health or free-sale certificates, legalisation or consular attestation, halal attestation where gelatine is involved. Several cannot be issued retrospectively, so we ask what your agent needs at quotation stage — the sequence in our walkthrough of a complete export file.
Proving preferential origin: three mechanisms, and the markets where none applies
"EUR.1 certificates available worldwide" is the sentence that tells a customs broker the supplier has not understood what a EUR.1 is. It proves preferential origin under certain EU agreements: it asserts that the goods meet that agreement's rules of origin, and it is stamped by the exporting country's customs authority. It has value only where the destination is party to such an agreement.
EUR.1 movement certificates, where the agreement calls for them
Several agreements relevant to this catalogue work this way: the Economic Partnership Agreements covering Ghana, Kenya and the CARIFORUM states, the Stabilisation and Association Agreements with the Western Balkans, and the Mediterranean association agreements including Egypt. Where one applies and the goods qualify, the importer presents the EUR.1 and duty falls to the preferential rate.
One distinction underpins all of it: preferential origin turns on the factory that made the goods, never on the nationality of the brand. A famous European brand made outside the EU does not become EU-originating because it was bought from a Belgian warehouse, and goods in free circulation in the EU are not goods of EU origin. We raise a EUR.1 for lines that qualify on where they were made, and a Certificate of Origin for the rest.
Origin declarations made by a registered exporter
Newer agreements have dropped the customs-stamped certificate. Instead the exporter, registered for the purpose, makes a declaration in prescribed wording on the invoice. The EU–Singapore agreement works this way; so, in its own form, does the EU–UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement, where a claim rests on a statement on origin or the importer's own knowledge. Asking for a EUR.1 on a British shipment is not a paperwork preference: that instrument is not part of the agreement, and a claim built on one fails.
Where no agreement exists, duty is simply payable
The Gulf is the clearest case. The EU and the Gulf Cooperation Council states have concluded no free trade agreement, so no European document reduces duty into the Emirates or Saudi Arabia; the tariff falls under the GCC common external tariff and the relevant paper is a Certificate of Origin, often attested or legalised. Nigeria sits there for a different reason: it has not brought the West Africa Economic Partnership Agreement into effect, and within ECOWAS it is Ghana whose ratification makes preference available. Hong Kong is a third case: a free port levying duty on a short list of commodity classes, none of which appears here. None of that argues against buying from Europe; it argues for pricing landed cost honestly up front.
Trade regimes change. Treat this page as correct at the time of writing and confirm the position for your own tariff heading against the European Commission's Access2Markets database and with your customs broker. Where a rate could not be verified, we describe the category of requirement rather than quote a number.
Preference instrument by corridor, at a glance
- United Arab Emirates — no EU–GCC agreement; attested Certificate of Origin; Arabic labelling; usually CIF Jebel Ali
- United Kingdom — statement on origin or importer's knowledge, never EUR.1; animal-product controls; usually DAP
- Nigeria — no preference in effect; Certificate of Origin, SONCAP pre-shipment, NAFDAC registration; usually CFR Lagos
- Saudi Arabia — no EU–GCC agreement; Certificate of Origin, SABER and SFDA; usually CIF Jeddah or Dammam
- Ghana — interim EPA, EUR.1 on qualifying goods; Ghana FDA and Standards Authority; usually CIF Tema
- Kenya — EPA with the EU, EUR.1 on qualifying goods; KEBS conformity before sailing; usually CIF Mombasa
- Wider Gulf and Levant — GCC states follow the Gulf position; Jordan and Lebanon under agreements where EUR.1 applies
- Hong Kong — free port; no preference arises and no origin certificate is needed; usually FOB Antwerp
- Egypt — association agreement, EUR.1 applies; exporter and site registration formalities gate the corridor
- South Africa — SADC Economic Partnership Agreement, EUR.1 applies; well-served ports
The corridors we document in most detail
Three have pages of their own, written from that corridor's specific risk.
United Arab Emirates and Gulf re-export
Jebel Ali is why this corridor exists: much of what lands there is never consumed in the Emirates. Free zone versus mainland is the first question: free-zone stock stays duty-suspended for re-export, while mainland clearance brings duty, registration and Arabic labelling. Excise on carbonated, energy and sweetened drinks reshapes the arithmetic on the drinks side of the catalogue; supplying importers and re-exporters in the Emirates covers the rest.
United Kingdom
Short-sea routing makes this the one corridor where pallet and part-load orders are routinely economic. Preference rests on a statement on origin, and only EU-manufactured goods qualify. Border controls on products of animal origin reach further into this catalogue than buyers expect — dairy-containing chocolate and countlines are the obvious case, and they have arrived in phases, so confirm what applies on your shipping date. GB labelling expects a British food business operator address on pack; supplying British wholesalers has the detail.
Nigeria
A documentation market before a freight market. Form M and the buyer's access to foreign exchange decide whether an order proceeds at all, and SONCAP conformity assessment must be completed pre-shipment through an accredited agent. NAFDAC registration covers food, cosmetics and laundry and cleaning lines, while nappies and family care face the closest scrutiny of anything we ship. Congestion at Apapa and Tin Can makes clearing speed a commercial variable, as our West African page explains.
Saudi Arabia
A consumption market rather than a re-export hub, where the conformity gate is the whole story: nothing clears without certificates raised through the SABER platform, and food and cosmetic lines also engage SFDA requirements. Arabic labelling is mandatory and dating prescribed rather than optional, shaping how crisps and savoury snacks and infant and family care lines are prepared. Gelatine raises halal questions answered with the manufacturer's attestation.
Ghana
The corridor where preferential origin actually pays. Because Ghana ratified an interim agreement with the EU, EU-manufactured goods meeting the rules of origin enter against a EUR.1 at the preferential rate; the saving is the importer's. Against that, Ghana FDA registration and Ghana Standards Authority conformity have to be planned into the timeline, and aerosol grooming and personal care formats add dangerous-goods paperwork. Tema is the usual discharge port.
Kenya and the Northern Corridor
Mombasa is not only Kenya. It is the gateway to the Northern Corridor into Uganda, Rwanda, South Sudan and eastern DRC, so a consignment often has a transit life after clearance that the papers must support. The EU–Kenya agreement uses EUR.1, so qualifying stock enters at a preferential rate. The gating step is KEBS verification of conformity, issued before the vessel sails or the shipment becomes a destination-charge problem. Ambient table sauces and condiments suit this lane.
Qatar, Kuwait, Oman, Bahrain, Jordan and Iraq
The remaining Gulf states share their neighbours' preference position and much of the regional standardisation and Arabic-labelling regime, so a range prepared for one is close to correct for the others. The Levant differs: Jordan and Lebanon sit under association agreements where EUR.1 does apply, a real preference split inside one region. Iraq is quoted case by case, and pralines and boxed chocolate travel across all of it.
Hong Kong
The simplest corridor here, and the one buyers most often over-engineer. It is a free port: duty falls on liquor, tobacco, hydrocarbon oil and methyl alcohol and on nothing else in our range, so there is no preference to claim and no EUR.1 to raise. Demand skews to European dermo-cosmetic and skincare lines such as La Roche-Posay, much of it moving on into mainland China, where registration rests with the importer.
Two corridors we quote but have not written up in full
Egypt is covered by an EU association agreement, so EUR.1 applies and the duty saving on qualifying goods is real. What makes it unpredictable is everything around the tariff: registration formalities with the Egyptian import authority, and hard-currency availability on the buyer's side, which has been the practical constraint far more often than customs. Ambient grocery lines are the usual subject of these enquiries.
South Africa trades under the SADC Economic Partnership Agreement, so EUR.1 again applies and the ports are well served from Antwerp. It sits lower on our list for a commercial rather than regulatory reason: the country manufactures much of its own fast-moving consumer goods, so import demand concentrates on premium European lines — roast coffee and speciality tea, dermo-cosmetics, confectionery.
Destinations we will not quote
We do not ship to destinations subject to EU sanctions or export restrictions, and we do not arrange routings designed to reach them indirectly. Restrictions attach to named parties as well as territories, so where a consignee is unfamiliar we check before quoting rather than before loading.
Tell us the destination, the discharge port your agent works through and the Incoterm you trade on, and we will tell you which origin document your consignment qualifies for and what has to be completed before it sails. If the range is still open, start with the catalogue organised by category; the answers buyers ask for before a first order cover accounts and terms, and the Belgian base behind the shipments explains where stock comes from.
Quote a corridor, not just a price list
Send your destination, your discharge port and your product list — we'll confirm availability, the origin document that applies and what your agent needs before the vessel sails.