Customs Considerations When Exporting to Kuwait
Manufacturers looking to export their products abroad need to consider various factors when evaluating export markets. One of those factors is the customs clearance infrastructure and processes within a given country. This article presents an overview of the time and cost it takes for a local partner to clear imported products through customs in Kuwait. This overview, along with a regional comparison, should help you better qualify Kuwait as an export market for your products.
Country Overview
Kuwait is located within the Middle East & North Africa region. It has a population of roughly 4 Million people as of 2018. 88% of the population lives in urban areas. The World Bank categorizes it as a high income country with a GDP per capita (PPP) of USD$69700 per person.
Regional Comparison
The "World Bank's Doing Business project" publishes an evaluation of countries based on their efficiency of cross border trade. When assessing import efficiency within a country it primarily reviews four factors:
1. The time for border compliance (imports): Compliance time associated with the country's customs regulations, inspections and handling that takes place at its port or border. Assumes a US$50,000 imported shipment of auto parts weighing 15 tons for calculation purposes.
2. The cost of border compliance (imports): Compliance cost associated with the country's customs regulations, inspections and handling that takes place at its port or border. Assumes a US$50,000 imported shipment of auto parts weighing 15 tons for calculation purposes.
3. The time for document compliance (imports): The time for obtaining documents, preparing documents, processing documents, presenting documents and submitting documents. Assumes a US$50,000 imported shipment of auto parts weighing 15 tons for calculation purposes.
4. The cost of document compliance (imports): The cost for obtaining documents, preparing documents, processing documents, presenting documents and submitting documents. Assumes a US$50,000 imported shipment of auto parts weighing 15 tons for calculation purposes.
When evaluating border compliance time and cost amongst major regional economies, Kuwait ranks 7th regionally in terms of border compliance time and 7th regionally in terms of border compliance cost. A US$50,000 imported shipment of auto parts would take 89 hours to clear border customs and cost roughly US$491.
| Country | Border Compliance Time (Hours) | Border Compliance Cost (USD) |
| Jordan | 79 | $181 |
| Morocco | 106 | $228 |
| Israel | 64 | $307 |
| Oman | 70 | $394 |
| Bahrain | 54 | $397 |
| Algeria | 327 | $466 |
| Kuwait | 89 | $491 |
| Egypt | 240 | $554 |
| Qatar | 48 | $558 |
| Iran | 141 | $660 |
| United Arab Emirates | 54 | $678 |
| Lebanon | 180 | $695 |
| Saudi Arabia | 228 | $779 |
When evaluating document compliance time and cost amongst major regional economies, Kuwait ranks 9th regionally in terms of document compliance time and 10th regionally in terms of document compliance cost. A US$50,000 imported shipment of auto parts would take 96 hours in Kuwait to have documents prepared & cleared and would cost roughly US$332.
| Country | Document Compliance Time (Hours) | Document Compliance Cost (USD) |
| Jordan | 55 | $30 |
| Israel | 44 | $70 |
| Morocco | 26 | $116 |
| Oman | 7 | $124 |
| Bahrain | 84 | $130 |
| Lebanon | 72 | $135 |
| Iran | 192 | $197 |
| United Arab Emirates | 12 | $283 |
| Qatar | 72 | $290 |
| Kuwait | 96 | $332 |
| Saudi Arabia | 122 | $390 |
| Algeria | 249 | $400 |
| Egypt | 265 | $1000 |
Detail for Border Compliance Time and Cost
Border compliance time and cost are calculated as a function of three driving factors: the time/cost related to working with customs authorities, the time/cost related to working with other agencies and finally border handling time/cost. The border compliance time and cost for Kuwait are driven by both working with custom authorities and border handling.
Kuwait City Overview:
| Detail Type | Time (Hours) | Cost (USD) |
| Working with Custom Authorities | 89 | $173 |
| Working with Other Agencies | 0 | $0 |
| Border Handling | 90 | $318 |
Detail of Document Compliance Time and Cost
Document compliance time and cost is a function of the various documents required by the country when importing goods. For Kuwait City, the documents required when importing goods from abroad include Trade license, Commercial invoice, Bill of Lading, Packing List, Certificate of Origin, Cargo release order, Terminal handling receipt, Manifest/Bayan and SOLAS Certificate.
Transportation Costs
Another factor that influences import trade efficiency is transportation costs. For shipments bound to Kuwait City, the port where goods would most likely land would be Shuwaikh port. When calculating transportation cost for the US$50,000 auto parts shipment, the World Bank calculates that the shipment that would land at Shuwaikh port would need to be transported 10 km with an average travel time of 2 hours. This brings the delivery transportation cost for the shipment to roughly US$125.
Infrastructure Digitization
Greater use of technology within the customs clearance process helps improve efficiency and lower time and cost associated with customs clearance. Today many countries use digital systems to streamline the customs clearance process. Many of these customs systems are known as EDI or Electronic Data Interchange systems. More recently however, there has been a push to develop even more integrated customs clearance systems known as SW or single window systems. These systems provide greater integration within a given country and between multiple countries when managing customs clearance.
Kuwait does have an EDI system known as Global Link. It has no SW system.
