We are a manufacturer of food supplements, and we ship ex works by default, so we sit at the start of this chain and do not collect any of the later lines. That is also why this sheet carries no factory price: the "EXW price X" below is a placeholder you replace with the figure from your own quotation. Every rate comes from an open public source and carries the date it was checked. Where a rate was not found, the cell says "ask your broker" instead of a guess.
| Step | Formula | Rate found, with source | What you still need |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. EXW price | X, per carton or per unit, from the plant's quotation | Not published here | The quotation, with the delivery term written on it |
| 2. Freight and insurance | CIF = X + freight + insurance (+ export costs, if you pay them) | No public rate | A quote from your forwarder |
| 3. Duty | Duty = rate × customs value, usually the CIF value | Saudi Arabia: at least 5% of CIF. Kenya and South Africa: set by the customs code, no rate named in the guide. UAE, Egypt: not found | The customs code of your product and the current tariff, from your broker |
| 4. VAT | VAT = rate × (CIF + duty + other taxes, where the country sets that base) | Saudi Arabia 15%. Kenya 16%, on CIF plus duty plus other applicable taxes. South Africa 15%. Morocco 0% to 20% by goods. UAE, Egypt, Nigeria: not found for supplements | The rate for supplements, the base, and whether you can recover import VAT |
| 5. Border fees | Fee = rate × the value the country sets | Kenya: import declaration fee 3.5% per the ITA guide, last published July 2024, plus railway development levy 2%. Saudi Arabia: the ITA guide also lists a customs surcharge, port fees, cargo service fees and an import inspection tax; no rates given, ask your broker. Saudi sample analysis is paid by the importer | The current rate and the base each fee is charged on; your broker confirms |
| 6. Port, clearing agent, warehouse | Sum of invoices | No public rate | Your clearing agent's tariff |
| 7. Distributor | Landed cost ÷ (1 − distributor margin on selling price) | Your own agreement | The margin and what it covers |
| 8. Retail | Distributor price ÷ (1 − retail margin on selling price), plus shelf VAT | Your own agreement; shelf VAT rate for supplements: ask your broker | The pharmacy's margin and the price band |
Rates from the US International Trade Administration (ITA) Country Commercial Guides, import tariff pages, and the Saudi Food and Drug Authority (SFDA) clearance conditions. Checked 14 October 2026.
How is the landed cost of an own-brand supplement built, step by step?
It is built in eight steps, and the first five are the ones a customs officer sees: the EXW price, freight and insurance (together giving CIF), duty, VAT and border fees. Steps six to eight are your own costs and agreements. An error in step three travels all the way to the shelf price.
The order matters because the bases differ. Duty is normally charged on CIF, not on the EXW price. VAT in several countries is charged on CIF plus duty, so it taxes the duty as well. A sheet that applies VAT to the EXW price understates the tax by the whole freight line and the duty.
Fill the sheet in this order: get the EXW quotation, get a freight and insurance quote, ask your broker for the customs code and rates, and only then add your distributor and retail terms.
Who pays freight and clearance under EXW, FCA and DAP?
Under EXW you pay for everything after the plant gate, including export clearance. Under FCA and DAP the seller clears the goods for export, and under DAP the seller also carries them to the named place. Import clearance and duties stay with you under all three. We ship EXW by default, with FCA or DAP on request.
Our reading of the Incoterms 2020 rules is a summary, not the rule text. Write the term and the named place on the quotation, and ask your forwarder to confirm who insures the shipment.
Each choice has a price in something other than money:
- EXW keeps the seller out of the chain, so you control the carrier and the route. The cost is that you also carry the export formalities and the timing in the port.
- FCA moves export clearance to the seller, so there is one party less to brief. The cost is that you still book and pay the main carriage and manage the import side.
- DAP gives you one price to the destination. The cost is that the freight is inside that price, so you compare the quotation with a forwarder's quote line by line.
Production time is separate from all of this. A blister order has a production time of 6 to 10 weeks, and shipping time comes on top of it; see lead times for the other formats.
What do duty and VAT add in Saudi Arabia?
On a shipment with a CIF value of 100, Saudi Arabia adds at least 20.75 of duty and VAT. The ITA guide says the country applies the Gulf Cooperation Council common external tariff, at least 5%, on most goods from outside the GCC, charged on the CIF value, and VAT is 15% since the July 2020 rise from 5%.
The worked example below is our arithmetic. The ITA page does not state the VAT base for Saudi Arabia, so we assume it is CIF plus duty. Check the base with your broker before you use it.
| Line | Index on CIF = 100 | Note |
|---|---|---|
| CIF value (EXW price X + freight + insurance) | 100.00 | Index, not a price. X is below 100 by the freight and insurance share |
| Duty at the 5% floor | 5.00 | A floor: the rate for your customs code may be higher |
| VAT at 15% on (100 + 5) | 15.75 | Assumed base: CIF plus duty |
| Duty and VAT together | at least 20.75 | 20.75% of CIF at the floor |
| Cost so far | at least 120.75 | Before the surcharge, fees and inspection tax that ITA lists, the SFDA sample analysis the importer pays, the port, the agent and the warehouse |
What do other markets add: Kenya, South Africa, the UAE, Egypt, Nigeria, Morocco?
Kenya adds VAT of at least 16 per 100 of CIF, plus fees. South Africa adds 15% VAT. For the UAE, Egypt and Nigeria we found no usable rate, and Morocco's VAT depends on the goods. The answer for every blank is "ask your broker", in writing, with a date.
| Market | Duty | VAT | Fees and notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kenya | By customs code; no rate named | 16% on CIF + duty + other applicable taxes. At CIF 100 with zero duty and fees it is already 16 | Import declaration fee 3.5% per the ITA guide, last published July 2024; your broker confirms the current rate. Railway development levy 2%. The guide does not name the base for either |
| South Africa | By customs code; no rate named | 15% on nearly all imports; goods imported for use in manufacturing or resale by registered traders may be exempted. Whether it applies to you: broker and tax adviser | None named |
| UAE | The UAE is a GCC member, and the ITA Saudi page names a GCC common external tariff of at least 5%; your broker confirms the UAE rate | Not found | Ask your broker |
| Egypt | Not found | Not found | Ask your broker |
| Nigeria | No rate for supplements on the ITA page | No rate for supplements on the ITA page | Ask your broker |
| Morocco | Not found | 0% to 20% by goods; not a rate for your product | Ask your broker |
Ask your broker for four things per country: the customs code for your product, the duty rate for that code, the VAT rate and its base, and every border fee with the value it is charged on. A sheet with an invented rate is worse than one with a blank.
How do I get from landed cost to a shelf price?
Divide, do not multiply. A margin quoted on selling price means price = cost ÷ (1 − margin). A mark-up quoted on cost means price = cost × (1 + mark-up). Mixing the two is the commonest error in a sheet: a 25% mark-up on cost is a 20% margin on selling price, not 25%.
Two links in the chain compound. If a distributor and a pharmacy each take a margin of 20% on selling price, the shelf price before shelf VAT is the landed cost ÷ 0.8 ÷ 0.8, which is 1.5625 times the landed cost. This is arithmetic, not a market figure; the real margins are in your own agreements. We give no typical margin for supplements; for what one public company reports by link, see margin by link, retail and distribution.
Then add VAT at the shelf. The rate for supplements at retail can differ from the import rate, and import VAT may be recoverable for a registered trader. Both are questions for a tax adviser in the country of sale.
What costs sit outside the formula?
Two costs sit outside it, and neither appears on a customs invoice.
- Shelf life. Our standard is 24 months. Transit, port waiting and warehouse stock all use part of it, and some importing countries apply minimum remaining shelf life rules to food; ask your importer whether they apply to supplements.
- Registration. Registering the product in the country of sale is the brand owner's step, filed by your importer or another local applicant. We supply the documents that a file draws on: a Certificate of Analysis and a specification with each batch. Cost and time of the filing are the authority's and your importer's to quote. See export documents.
What your situation decides
Your market and your first run remove options before the sheet gets a vote.
| Your situation | What it decides | What it costs you |
|---|---|---|
| Selling in Saudi Arabia | Duty and VAT can be computed from public rates, with the VAT base to confirm | Risk: a wrong base misstates the tax by the duty share. Time: sample analysis at the border is yours to fund |
| Selling in Kenya | VAT is charged on a base that includes duty and other taxes, and two fees apply | Risk: a sheet that adds VAT to CIF alone understates it |
| Selling in the UAE or Egypt | No rate found, so the sheet has blanks | Time: you wait for a broker's written answer before you can quote a shelf price |
| You plan a blister run | Freight is quoted on the shipment, so the carton size you choose sets the cost per carton | Cash: a run starts from 2,000 cartons, so the first freight bill is for a full run; ask your forwarder for a quote per carton size |
Questions buyers ask about landed cost
What is landed cost for imported supplements?
Landed cost is everything you pay to get the product from the factory gate to your warehouse door: the ex-works price, freight, insurance, duty, VAT where it is not recoverable, border fees and local handling. Add your distributor and pharmacy margins and you reach the shelf price.
How do I calculate landed cost from an EXW price?
Add freight and insurance to the EXW price to get the CIF value. Multiply CIF by the duty rate. Add VAT on the base your country sets, then the border fees and handling. Divide by one minus each margin to reach the shelf price. Our table shows each step.
What import duty and VAT apply to supplements in Saudi Arabia?
The ITA guide says Saudi Arabia applies the GCC common external tariff of at least 5% to most goods from outside the GCC, charged on the CIF value, and VAT of 15%. The rate for your product depends on its customs code, so confirm the code and rate with your broker.
Do the UAE and Egypt charge duty and VAT on supplements?
We found no rate for supplements in either country that we could use, so we do not give one. The UAE is a GCC member, and the ITA Saudi page names a GCC common external tariff of at least 5%; your broker confirms the UAE rate, the VAT rate and its base.
Is a 25% mark-up the same as a 25% margin?
No. A mark-up is a share of cost, a margin a share of selling price. A 25% mark-up on cost gives a 20% margin on selling price, because 25 ÷ 125 is 0.2. Quote both on the same basis in every agreement, or the sheet will not reconcile.
What is your price per carton?
We do not publish prices. The quotation is made per enquiry, with the format, the formula, the quantity, the market and the delivery term. Send those and we answer within 24 hours, Monday to Friday. The sheet above then takes your EXW figure as X.
Read more
For distributors · Export documents · Minimum order quantity · Middle East
Ask for a quotation you can put into the sheet
Send us the format, the formula (ready-made or your own), the quantity, the market and the delivery term you want (EXW, FCA or DAP). We answer within 24 hours, Monday to Friday.
For a blister, a run starts from 2,000 cartons printed for your brand (at least 4,000 blisters), with production in 6 to 10 weeks before shipping. Each carton holds 1 to 4 blisters.
Request a quote → Email sales@hyperpharm.eu
Sources
- U.S. International Trade Administration, Country Commercial Guides, Import Tariffs: Saudi Arabia (GCC tariff of at least 5% on CIF; VAT 15% since July 2020; surcharge and fees listed), Kenya (VAT 16%; fees 3.5% and 2%), South Africa (VAT 15%), Nigeria, Morocco (VAT 0% to 20%). Checked 14 October 2026.
- Saudi Food and Drug Authority, Conditions and Requirements for Food Clearance: samples from a shipment, analysis at the importer's cost. sfda.gov.sa. Checked 14 October 2026.
- International Chamber of Commerce, Incoterms 2020 rules, overview page. iccwbo.org. Checked 14 October 2026. The ICC page gives no definitions; the summary is ours, from the Incoterms 2020 rules.