Charcoal Briquettes & Wood Charcoal (Shisha Cubes, BBQ Lump)

Coconut-shell shisha cubes bought on ash and burn time; hardwood BBQ lump bought on fixed carbon and origin papers

Two charcoal trades share the heading HS 4402 and are bought on different numbers. Coconut-shell briquettes for shisha are pressed from carbonised shell with a tapioca binder into 25 or 26 mm cubes, flats and hexagons, and the grade is read from ash and burn: premium cubes run under 2.5% ash (producers grade 1.6-1.9% as platinum and 1.9-2.2% as super premium), fixed carbon above 80%, moisture under 5%, and a burn time of 75 minutes or more, with white ash and no smell or sparking; ash above about 4% or fixed carbon below about 72% is standard grade. Hardwood charcoal for barbecue, restaurants and retail is sold as lump or briquette from acacia, eucalyptus and other plantation hardwoods, quebracho blanco (Paraguay), and encroacher bush (Namibia), and the European retail reference is EN 1860-2, with the German premium market asking for fixed carbon of 80% or more and ash of 4% or less. Under HS 2022 the heading splits into 4402.10 bamboo, 4402.20 shell or nut charcoal and 4402.90 other wood charcoal. UN Comtrade 2024 export declarations under HS 4402.90 total USD 832 million and about 1.0 million MT across 110 reporters: Indonesia USD 142 million, Ukraine USD 79 million and 133,000 MT, Poland USD 77 million and 86,000 MT, Namibia USD 69 million and 133,000 MT, Paraguay USD 54 million and 143,000 MT, the Netherlands USD 44 million, China USD 38 million, India USD 31 million, Germany USD 30 million, Mexico USD 25 million, Spain USD 22 million, South Africa USD 20 million, Malaysia USD 20 million and Portugal USD 18 million; Vietnam declared USD 85 million and 114,000 MT of wood charcoal in 2023 (WITS). Those are declared export values, not offers.

Three rules now shape the trade. Nigeria banned the export of wood and allied products, charcoal included, by Presidential Executive Order gazetted on 16 October 2025 and revoked existing licences, so no Nigerian charcoal is offered. Charcoal is UN 1361, carbon of animal or vegetable origin, Class 4.2, and IMDG Code Amendment 42-24, mandatory from 1 January 2026, removed the old exemptions and added special provision 978: charcoal is declared as dangerous goods, weathered for at least 14 days after production or packed under inert gas, and the UN N.4 self-heating test can no longer be used to exempt it. Wood charcoal (HS 4402) is in Annex I of the EU Deforestation Regulation, so lots for the EU need a due-diligence statement with plot geolocation from 30 December 2026 for large and medium operators and 30 June 2027 for small ones; FSC certification, which Namibia's charcoal industry has built around its Charcoal Association, is the usual supporting evidence. CBIL is a commodity brokerage company and brokers charcoal against the producer's analysis per lot (ash, fixed carbon, moisture, volatile matter, burn time for shisha grades), the dangerous-goods declaration, a certificate of origin, and FSC or equivalent chain-of-custody documents where the buyer sells certified, on FOB, CFR and CIF terms. Shisha cubes ship in retail inner cartons packed in master cartons on pallets; lump charcoal in paper bags or big bags; container loads are confirmed per pack. Price is per MT on grade and pack; minimum orders are confirmed per product and pack. Send the product, grade, shape, pack, tonnage and discharge port.

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Excluded origins are not offered, including product re-exported, blended or re-processed through a third country. Every lot moves with a certificate of origin naming the producing plant, mine or grower country, and nothing is quoted before the seller and loading point are known.