Importing coconut charcoal to the United Arab Emirates

Across the markets these guides cover, every recurring account takes a printed inner box or inner plastic packed into a master carton, and every account is private label: our briquette, your brand on the box.

• Packaging formats and master-carton options
• ·
• Private label and white label

This comes from our own order book — the recurring accounts we ship to in this market. It describes what those buyers reorder, not the full range we produce.

Buyers in Saudi Arabia and the UAE take 25–26 mm cubes.

Every one of those accounts reorders. These are repeat programs, not one-off trial containers.

Order book as of 2026-09-19

Who does what on a container shipment: we export and document; you and your customs broker clear and deliver at destination.

Coconut-shell charcoal classifies under heading 4402, subheading 4402.20 ("wood charcoal, of shell or nut"). Dubai Customs' HS Code Master carries it as a single 12-digit line in the GCC Integrated Customs Tariff, 4402.20.00.00.00, with no further split by material; subheading 4402.90 is for other wood charcoal, not coconut shell. Declare the same code on every document and confirm the declared line with your UAE customs broker.

Candidate codes:

• 4402.20

  HS6 "Wood charcoal, of shell or nut, whether or not agglomerated" — the subheading for coconut-shell charcoal.

  Source (opens in new tab)

• 4402.20.00.00.00

  The 12-digit GCC Integrated Customs Tariff line in Dubai Customs' HS Code Master (v3.3): one line for shell or nut charcoal, not split further; customs duty 0%.

  Source (opens in new tab)

• 4402.90

  "Other wood charcoal … other than of bamboo, shell or nut" — not the line for coconut-shell charcoal. Dubai Customs splits it into qard, sidr and other.

  Source (opens in new tab)

Note: Declare HS6 4402.20 uniformly on the commercial invoice, packing list, certificate of origin and bill of lading. Dubai Customs moves imports from outside the GCC to the mainland onto 12-digit codes between August 2026 and January 2027; confirm with your UAE customs broker which code format the declaration carries on your entry date.

For goods released to the UAE mainland, the customs duty on this line is a single layer — 0% in Dubai Customs' integrated tariff — with import VAT charged on top. Goods entering a free zone are exempt from customs duty. Read the duty as a dated layer and confirm the declared line with your broker at entry.

Verified as of the date shown; duties and tariffs change without notice — confirm with your customs broker at booking.

Landed cost is the sum of the goods, the freight, and the import charges. The structure below holds for any lane; the duty and VAT components are public verified figures, while the FOB and freight are illustrative and quoted at booking.

FOB goods value

Illustrative only — your actual FOB applies

Ocean freight + DG surcharges

Quoted on request (indicative)

Duty & VAT

From the layers above (0% customs duty + 5% VAT on the import value)

Landed cost

FOB + freight + duty & VAT

The formula is shown so you can plug in your own figures. The indicative FOB price list per grade is published on the pricing pillar, and the landed-cost page carries this same layer model with a calculator that runs on your own freight quote — both are linked under Related topics below. Live numbers for your order are quoted at booking.

What your incoterm covers (FOB and the freight split)→

UAE entry for a UN 1361 container runs through the importer of record, which holds a UAE trade licence, and its customs broker, with the documents we supply.

Step by step:

1. 1

   Trade licence and zone

   Importing to the UAE mainland takes a trade licence from the emirate's Department of Economic Development; a free-zone company imports into its free zone under its free-zone licence. Goods entering a free zone are exempt from customs duty, and duty applies when they are released to the mainland.

2. 2

   Documents at entry

   The UAE consignee or its agent collects a delivery order from the shipping agent and files originals of the commercial invoice addressed to the importer (quantity, description and value per item), a certificate of origin approved by the chamber of commerce in the country of origin, a packing list with weights, packing method and the HS code of each item, and the bill of lading. An import permit is added only for restricted or duty-exempted goods.

The export documents we supply→

The cargo arrives as declared UN 1361, Class 4.2 dangerous goods, and is handled accordingly at the UAE port of discharge. The classification and the prevention controls are covered on the dangerous-goods pages.

What UN 1361 is · The 2026 rules · Insured arrival & cargo protection

No UAE excise applies to charcoal, and whether HS 4402.20 falls under a MoIAT conformity scheme is unverified, so your importer confirms it before shipping.

This is regulatory information, not legal advice — see the disclaimer below.

MoIAT conformity

Whether HS 4402.20 is a regulated product under a Ministry of Industry and Advanced Technology (MoIAT) conformity scheme is UNVERIFIED for this code — MoIAT's regulated-product lists sit in its online Conformity Hub. Confirm with your importer before shipping; MoIAT issues a product status statement for a customs shipment on application. Source (opens in new tab)

Excise tax

The UAE levies excise tax on tobacco and tobacco products, electronic smoking devices and the liquids used in them, carbonated drinks, energy drinks and sweetened drinks. Charcoal is not on the Federal Tax Authority's list. Source (opens in new tab)

Free zones

Goods imported into a UAE free zone are exempt from customs duty, and so are re-exports from a free zone to markets outside the GCC customs zone; duty applies when the goods are released to the mainland. Source (opens in new tab)

Production takes about 21 days for a 20-ft container and 21–25 days for a 40-ft. Before the Strait of Hormuz closure, sea transit from Semarang (IDSRG) to Jebel Ali and Khalifa Port (Abu Dhabi) ran about 20–35 days, for 41–60 days from order to arrival. Current routing adds a transshipment and onward trucking (see the routing notice in the ports section), so your forwarder confirms the door-to-door time. A first order under a new brand adds 7–10 days to the production stage.

Class 4.2 dangerous-goods bookings need extra lead time, so book early. The SP 978 weathering window (at least 14 days) is part of our production and packing schedule, not added on top of it when the order is planned ahead.

Indicative only — subject to vessel schedule and booking confirmation, and never a guaranteed arrival date.

Indicative ocean transit from Semarang (IDSRG) to the main UAE gateways:

• Jebel Ali, UAE (AEJEA): about 20–35 days — usual transit before the closure.
• Khalifa Port (Abu Dhabi), UAE (AEKHL): about 20–35 days — usual transit before the closure.Khalifa Port takes dangerous goods under conditions: it has little or no dangerous-goods storage area, so a charcoal container goes straight from the vessel onto a truck.

Indicative; varies by line and season. Last updated 2026-10-07.