Shanghai Customs on Monday said Shanghai’s Waigaoqiao Port had seen a total of 1,845 tonnes of sesame imported from Africa this year, marking a year-on-year increase of 4.3 times.
Shanghai Customs said China is currently the largest import market for African sesame, with Waigaoqiao serving as the main port of entry into Shanghai.
It said during the first two months of this year, sesame imports mainly came from Mali, Togo, Mozambique, Niger, and Tanzania.
Wu Zhigang, who owns a grain and oil enterprise located in the city of Kunshan, east China’s Jiangsu Province, said that due to their high quality and low price, African sesame imports are mainly used to extract edible oil.
Wu said with a growing demand for sesame oil products in the Chinese market, his company plans to import more
than 10,000 tonnes of African sesame this year, up from over 3,000 tonnes in 2022.
Statistics from Shanghai Customs show that in the first two months of this year, Shanghai ports imported more
than 40,000 tonnes of African agricultural products, including sesame, worth more than 100 million U.S. dollars.
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