The words in the contract.
Fifteen terms that turn up in a sesame enquiry, a specification or a bill of lading, defined the way they are actually used in this trade. Where a term touches something we publish, the definition uses our own figure and points at the page that carries it.
- HS code 1207.40
- Sortex
- FFA
- Admixture
- FCL
- Phytosanitary certificate
- L/C at sight
- CAD
- New crop
- Benniseed
- MOQ
- COA
- RASFF
- Telex release
- Retention sample
- HS code 1207.40
The Harmonised System subheading for sesamum seeds, whether or not broken. It is the tariff line your customs entry, certificate of origin and phytosanitary certificate should all carry for sesame seed.
The six-digit code is international; countries add further digits of their own, so your national tariff line will be longer. Hulled and natural sesame both sit under 1207.40 — hulling does not move the seed to a different heading.
- Sortex
A genericised brand name for optical colour sorting: seed is passed in a thin stream past cameras that eject any seed falling outside the accepted colour band. In the sesame trade “sortex” has come to mean colour-sorted seed rather than the machine.
It is worth understanding what the pass actually removes. Seeds are dark because they are immature, heat damaged, mouldy or a different species, so the sort lifts appearance and removes the fraction most likely to carry a problem. Our sortex premium grade is sorted to 99.5% purity with admixture at 0.05% maximum.
- FFA
Free fatty acid: the proportion of the seed’s oil that has already broken down into loose fatty acids, expressed as a percentage of the oil and not of the seed. It is a measure of how the seed has been handled, not of the variety.
FFA rises with poor drying, warm storage and mechanical damage, and it does not come back down. For a crusher it is refining loss; for a tahini plant it is where the paste starts its shelf life. We specify 2.0% maximum on the oil across the Nigerian grades.
Crushing grade: oil content and FFA —The grade specifications
- Admixture
Everything in the consignment that is not sound sesame seed: stones, sand, chaff, stalk, other seeds and dust, given as a maximum percentage by weight.
Admixture is bought and paid for at the seed price and then thrown away, so a tolerance is a cost, not a technicality: on a 26 MT container, one percentage point is 260 kg. We specify 2.0% maximum on natural white at 98% purity, 1.0% on the 99% grade, and 0.05% on sortex premium and hulled.
- FCL
Full container load: the whole container is yours, sealed at origin and opened at destination, as opposed to LCL where a consignment shares a box with other shippers’ cargo.
For bagged sesame the practical figures are about 19 MT in a 20ft and 26 MT in a 40ft, and hulled loads lighter at about 18 MT in a 20ft because of the 25 kg bag. A 40ft does not carry twice a 20ft: a 20ft runs out of cube, a 40ft runs out of payload.
- Phytosanitary certificate
An official certificate confirming that a plant consignment has been inspected and is considered free from quarantine pests, issued by the exporting country’s national plant protection organisation. For Nigeria that is the Nigeria Agricultural Quarantine Service.
It is issued per consignment, it is issued to the exporting country’s authority’s own timetable rather than yours, and it is a condition of entry in most destination markets rather than a document you can supply late.
- L/C at sight
A documentary credit under which the issuing bank pays as soon as compliant documents are presented, rather than at a stated period afterwards. “At sight” describes the timing of payment; it says nothing about the goods.
The word that carries the risk is “compliant”. A credit pays against documents that match its terms exactly, so a credit calling for a document nobody can obtain, or naming a shipment window origin cannot meet, is a credit that will not pay. Read the terms against the shipment schedule before it is issued, not after.
- CAD
Cash against documents: the seller ships, then sends the document set through the banking chain, and the buyer’s bank releases the documents — and with them control of the cargo — only against payment.
It is the customary basis on the FOSFA sesame forms. The bagged-sesame CIF form contemplates payment on presentation, or before arrival but not later than 25 days from the bill of lading date.
- New crop
Seed from the harvest currently being gathered, as opposed to carry-over stock from the previous season. In a contract it is a quality term, because moisture behaviour and colour differ between the two.
For Nigerian sesame new crop is available from late November, with forward bookings taken from August. If new crop matters to you, write it into the contract: it is not implied by a shipment date.
- Benniseed
The Nigerian name for sesame, used in Nigerian agricultural statistics, trade literature and everyday speech. Benniseed and sesame are the same crop, Sesamum indicum.
Worth knowing when you are reading Nigerian sources: a government or trade publication may put production and export figures under benniseed while the contract in front of you says sesame.
- MOQ
The smallest quantity a supplier will contract for. In bulk oilseed trade it is normally expressed in containers rather than tonnes, because a part container still ships and is paid for as a whole container.
Ours is one 20ft FCL. Smaller trial quantities can be discussed alongside a first container booking.
- COA
A laboratory’s report of the tested values for a specific lot — purity, moisture, oil content, FFA, admixture and whatever else the contract calls for — identified by a lot or batch reference.
Two things decide whether a COA means anything: which laboratory issued it, and which lot it refers to. A certificate that cannot be tied to the seed in the container is a document about someone else’s cargo. Ask who drew the sample and when.
How to vet a sesame exporter —Export documents, and how to verify each one
- RASFF
The European Union’s notification system for food and feed risks. When a member state stops or recalls a consignment it raises a notification, and the RASFF Window database makes those notifications publicly searchable.
It is the most useful public evidence about what actually goes wrong with a commodity from an origin, as opposed to what suppliers say goes wrong. Our own query of it returned 267 notifications naming sesame with Nigeria among the countries of origin between 2019 and July 2026, around three quarters of them Salmonella. That figure is our query, not an official Commission statistic — run it yourself.
- Telex release
An instruction from the carrier’s origin office to its destination office to release the cargo without the original bill of lading being presented, after the shipper has surrendered the originals at origin.
It saves the days a courier would take, and it removes the security an original bill of lading gives the seller — which is why it is normally agreed only where payment is already settled or the parties have traded before. Do not assume it: it is a term, not a service level.
- Retention sample
A sealed sample drawn at loading or discharge and kept unopened, so that a later dispute can be tested against the seed as it actually was rather than against a description of it.
The retention period is a contract term and it differs by form. On the FOSFA bulk oilseeds form samples are kept for three months from the bill of lading date; on the bagged sesameseed form, three months from the final day of discharge. Know which one your contract uses before a claim window matters.
HS 120740 · sesame seeds HS code
sortexed sesame · colour sorted · optical sorting
free fatty acid · free fatty acids on the oil
foreign matter · FM
full container load · 20ft FCL · 40ft FCL
phyto · plant health certificate
letter of credit at sight · sight LC
cash against documents · documents against payment · D/P
new season · old crop
beniseed · benne
minimum order quantity
certificate of analysis
Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed
express release · surrendered B/L
reference sample · sealed sample
Terms that need more than a paragraph have a guide of their own rather than an entry here: the Incoterms, the aflatoxin and Salmonella limits, the export document set and the FOSFA contract basis. All the guides
Sourcing sesame for the 2026/27 season?
New-crop arrivals begin in late November. Forward bookings open from August. Send us your specification and destination, and you will have a formal quotation within 48 hours.