Cotonou is the political and economic center of Benin, a small West African country, and the Misèbo area on the west bank of its canal is a concentrated hub for the second-hand clothing business. According to World Bank estimates, illegal trade across the Benin-Nigeria border may exceed $5 billion annually, with second-hand goods accounting for the largest share. Nigeria imposes strict restrictions on imports of second-hand goods such as used cars, computers, televisions, and clothing, prompting thrifty Nigerian traders to travel to Cotonou to make purchases and then transport them back across the border. The re-export trade in Chinese clothing alone amounts to as much as $2.2 billion a year.

Key Points

  • The World Bank estimates that trade across the Benin-Nigeria border may exceed $5 billion annually, with second-hand goods accounting for the largest share.
  • Nigeria imposes strict restrictions on imports of second-hand goods such as used cars, computers, televisions, and clothing, making Cotonou a transit hub for circumventing tariffs.
  • Chinese clothing alone accounts for $2.2 billion in annual trade through this border.

In the Misèbo area of Cotonou, shirts, dresses, and other garments hang at stalls and shop entrances, shoes dangle loosely from fences, and bicycles with trailers, trucks, and men carrying 55-kilogram bundles of clothes can be seen everywhere on the streets. A Nigerian trader in his forties, Obonna Michael, operates here, helping his compatriots purchase second-hand cars and transport them back to Nigeria. Wearing a second-hand shirt, second-hand trousers, and using a second-hand Samsung phone, he said bluntly: "Nigerians want second-hand goods because they are durable, while many of the new goods we import break easily."

The Benin-Nigeria border is notorious for corruption. A normal crossing may take hours and require bribes to five or six people, but second-hand car dealers still find it profitable. The Nigerian government occasionally intervenes, slowing trade for weeks or even months before it resumes.

Mr. A (pseudonym), who is engaged in importing, sorting, and wholesaling second-hand clothing, revealed that he has been running his shop for five years. When the Nigerian currency was strong, he purchased five shipping containers of second-hand clothing per week; after the economic downturn, his purchases declined. His warehouse holds at least 200 bales of clothing, and a shipping manifest shows a recent import of 480 bales covering 64 types of goods, including bed sheets, curtains, children's T-shirts, boys' sportswear, and women's polyester and cotton T-shirts. Mr. A prefers durable clothing and avoids plus sizes and winter clothing, with most of his stock coming from Goodwill and the Salvation Army in Canada.

He pointed out: "Many things made in China are also of good quality, it's just that they keep most of the good stuff for wealthy countries." This reflects a common view among African second-hand traders—producing similar products at different costs and selling them at different prices is a common strategy for manufacturers. A fashionable shirt selling for $29.99 in the United States can have a version with sparser fabric sold in Cotonou for $2.99 and still be profitable. For many customers, trendiness matters more than durability.

This trade network supports Cotonou's export economy, with the Beninese government barely regulating it, while restrictions on the Nigerian side control the pace of transactions. Second-hand clothing starts from charities or thrift stores in Europe and America, arrives in West Africa by container, and then flows across the border into Nigeria, becoming part of local consumers' daily lives.

Source: The Second-Hand World of Africans: Shirts, Trousers, Phones—All Second-Hand_Tencent News · Originally published on 2022-02-15