Shipping cost from China to Nigeria per kg

Air is priced per kg, sea is not. What volumetric weight means, what moves the price, and the questions to ask before you accept any quote.

Air freight from China to Nigeria is priced per kilogram. Sea freight is not. Sea is priced by the cubic metre when you share a container, or by the container when you fill one. So if somebody quotes you sea freight "per kg", stop and ask what they mean, because one of you is about to be surprised.

That difference is the reason most first time importers get a shock at the end.

Air freight: the kilo you pay for is not always the kilo on the scale #

Airlines charge you for the greater of two numbers: what your goods actually weigh, and what the space they occupy is worth. The second one is called volumetric weight, and it is simple arithmetic.

Measure the carton in centimetres, multiply length by width by height, then divide by 6000.

A carton of hair extensions, 60cm x 40cm x 50cm. That is 120,000 divided by 6000, so 20kg volumetric. It might only weigh 12kg on a scale. You pay for 20kg.

A carton of phone accessories, 40cm x 30cm x 30cm. That is 36,000 divided by 6000, so 6kg volumetric, but it may weigh 15kg. You pay for 15kg.

Light and bulky loses. Heavy and compact wins. Express couriers like DHL often divide by 5000 instead of 6000, which makes the same carton more expensive, so always ask which divisor your agent is using before you accept a rate.

This is where most "but you said X per kg" arguments come from. Nobody was lying. The goods just measured bigger than they weighed.

Sea freight: you are buying space, not weight #

A cubic metre is one metre long, one metre wide, one metre high. Sea freight in a shared container, called groupage or LCL, is priced per cubic metre of the space you take. Most consolidators set a minimum, commonly around one cubic metre, so a half metre of goods still gets charged as a full one. Confirm the minimum before you ship.

If you fill a container yourself, you pay for the container, not the space you used. Roughly speaking a 20ft container holds about 28 cubic metres once it is loaded sensibly, and a 40ft about 58.

Somewhere around 12 to 15 cubic metres, a full 20ft container usually starts working out cheaper per cubic metre than groupage. If you are near that line, have both priced before you decide. Do not assume the shared container is always the cheaper option, because past a certain volume it stops being true.

Which one is right for what you are buying #

Air makes sense for goods that are small, valuable, urgent, or seasonal. Phone accessories, jewellery, samples, anything you need before a specific date. You pay a lot more per kilo and you get your goods in days.

Sea makes sense for anything heavy, bulky, or not urgent. Furniture, tiles, machinery, bulk clothing, generators. Weeks on the water, plus clearing time at the port, at a fraction of the cost.

Groupage is how most Nigerian traders start. You are not shipping enough to fill a container, so you share one. It is the right answer for a first order, and it is why you do not need a container's worth of money to begin.

What actually moves the price #

Season. Rates climb before Christmas and again before Chinese New Year, when every factory in China is trying to ship before it closes. Plan around those two and you pay less.

Where the goods start. Guangzhou, Yiwu, Shenzhen and Ningbo are not the same price to the same port.

What the goods are. Batteries, liquids, powders, aerosols and anything with a brand name on it carry restrictions, extra paperwork or surcharges. Some agents will not take them at all. Say what you are buying up front, not after the money has moved.

What the quote includes. This is the big one, and it has its own section.

The "door to door, all in" trap #

You will see agents advertise a single figure per kg, door to door, all inclusive. Sometimes that is exactly what it says. Sometimes it is freight only, and the duty, the port charges and the delivery inside Nigeria arrive later as a second bill.

Three questions settle it before you pay anything:

1. Does this include Nigerian customs duty? Duty depends on the HS code of your goods, and on top of it sit VAT and statutory levies. A quote that does not mention duty has almost certainly not included it.
2. Does it include delivery to my address, or to the port? Apapa to Kano is over a thousand kilometres. That journey costs real money and it is frequently left out.
3. What happens if Customs values my goods higher than I declared? They can and they do. Whoever pays that difference should be named in writing before the container sails, not discovered at the port.

If an agent will not answer those three plainly, you have learned something useful about the agent.

The four things to send when you ask for a quote #

Anybody serious can price your shipment from these. Anybody who quotes without them is guessing.

1. What the goods are. Be specific. "Hair products" and "human hair extensions with packaging" are different conversations.
2. How much. Number of cartons, or the measurements of each carton, or the total cubic metres. Weight too if you have it.
3. Where the goods are now. The supplier's city, or say you have not bought yet.
4. Sea or air, and whether you have a date you must meet.

Send those four and you get a real figure. Send "how much to ship from China" and you will get a number that changes later.

What nobody can promise you #

Nobody can give you a rate that stays true for a month. Ocean and air rates move weekly with fuel, demand and season. Anyone publishing a fixed per kg figure on a website is either quoting a rate from months ago or planning to revise it once you commit.

Nobody can promise a clearing date either. That decision belongs to Nigeria Customs, and a container can be pulled for examination for reasons that have nothing to do with you.

What a good agent can do is quote your actual shipment in naira, tell you what is included and what is not, and warn you about the paperwork before you order rather than after the goods have sailed.

That is the whole job.

First published 20 Sep 2026. Last checked 20 Sep 2026 by The ChinaBridge desk. Something here out of date? Tell us in the comments and we will fix it.