The United Kingdom has announced that over 3,000 Nigerian products, including cocoa and cashew, can now enter the UK market either duty-free or at reduced tariffs.
The Country Director for the UK Department for Business and Trade, Mark Smithson, announced this move, which is part of the UK’s Developing Countries Trading Scheme (DCTS), in a recent video released by the UK in Nigeria.
The DCTS is a simpler and more generous preferential trading scheme which has been designed to boost trade with developing countries in order to support their development.
The Developing countries trading scheme (DCTS), launched in June 2023, allows Nigeria and 36 other African countries to export over 3,000 products duty-free or at reduced tariffs to the UK, thus supporting Nigerian businesses to grow and become more competitive globally.
A major advantage of the UK’s developing countries trading scheme is the reduction or complete elimination of duty-tariffs on everyday goods such as cashew nuts, cocoa, cotton, plantain, tomatoes, prawns, and sesame.
Apparently, This isn’t just about improved access to the UK market, it’s about building a fairer, freer global trading system that supports economic growth and job creation, both in developing countries and in the UK.”
The UK is open and looking to do business with Nigeria, as Mark Smithson encourages Nigerian exporters to take advantage of the rare opportunity.
The DCTS applies to 65 countries that are:
- Least developed countries (LDCs) as defined by the United Nations.
- Low income and lower middle-income countries as defined by the World Bank
A list of eligible countries can be found in their preference tiers guidance (Click Here to Check).
These guides explain how businesses in the UK and in developing countries can take advantage of the DCTS to bring goods into the UK.
