African sesame origins, compared.

Which African countries export sesame?

Four origins anchor the continent's trade. Nigeria and Sudan are the volume heavyweights of West and East; Ethiopia built its name on the premium Humera and Wollega types; Tanzania anchors the southern crop with a counter-seasonal harvest. Around them, Burkina Faso, Mali, Chad and Mozambique have grown into meaningful secondary origins.

What has happened to Sudanese sesame since 2023?

Sudan's sesame belt centres on Gedaref (Al Qadarif) state, whose El Gedaref market FAO describes as located in the main sesame-producing area. In FAO's crop assessment for 2025/26, Gedaref's mechanised rain-fed sesame accounted for about 94,000 tonnes of a national total of about 511,000 tonnes.

That national total is about 18% below the previous year and 48% below the pre-war five-year average, according to the FAO Crop and Food Supply Assessment Mission published in March 2026. FAO traces the decline to 2022, when low prices led farmers to switch to other crops, exacerbated since by the conflict that began in April 2023 and by limited access to finance. FEWS NET reports the same 48% decline, and has documented disrupted exports of oil crops including sesame since late 2023.

For a buyer the planning consequence is simple: Sudan, historically one of Africa's large sesame origins, is producing about half its pre-war average, so buyers who relied on it are sourcing elsewhere.

Where does Nigerian sesame fit among the African origins?

Nigeria combines three advantages that matter to a buyer: scale, seed quality and logistics. The central-belt states (Nasarawa, Benue, Taraba) grow white, high-oil seed suited to tahini and premium food applications, while the northern states supply the oil-crushing trade in volume. Everything ships through Lagos, a major container port with regular sailings to Asia, Europe and the Middle East and all major inspection agencies on the ground.

The practical consequence: Nigeria is usually the most straightforward African origin from which to build a repeatable, inspected, documented supply programme, which is precisely the trade AgroMax runs, from farm gate to FOB Lagos.

Why do buyers source from more than one origin?

Sesame is an annual crop, and every origin has good and difficult years: weather, politics, currency, logistics. Processors with year-round demand therefore build a portfolio: a West African anchor, an East African premium line, a southern origin to bridge the counter-season. The buying discipline stays identical everywhere (specification, inspection, documents), which is why buyers who master one origin properly find the second one easy.

If Nigeria is the origin you are building next, start with the buyer's guide to importing Nigerian sesame, and send us the specification you buy against today.