Buying fertilizer at wholesale volumes involves decisions that do not arise when you buy a pallet from a local distributor. Specifications must be agreed rather than assumed, shipping terms determine who carries which risk, and import requirements in your market can stop a shipment that has already left.
This guide covers what to settle before an order is placed, in roughly the order it needs settling.
1. Define the specification before asking for a price
A price without a specification is not information. Two suppliers quoting “Fe-EDDHA 6%” may be offering products that perform very differently, and the cheaper quote may be considerably worse value.
For every product, establish:
- Guaranteed analysis — the full breakdown, not the headline grade
- The fraction that does the work — ortho-ortho percentage for Fe-EDDHA, free and L-form content for amino acid products, humic and fulvic split for humic products
- Physical form — granular, prilled, crystalline or powder; these behave differently in storage and dissolving
- Solubility and insoluble matter — decisive for anything going through drip systems
- Moisture content — you do not want to pay freight on water
- Whether figures are stated as elements or oxides — see NPK ratios explained
Ask for the specification sheet, not the marketing brochure. Then compare specification sheets against each other.
2. Understand what you are actually comparing
Convert every quotation to cost per unit of active nutrient, delivered. That means:
- Take the price and the nutrient percentage
- Calculate cost per kilogram of the nutrient that matters
- Add freight, insurance, duties and clearance costs to the landed position
- Only then compare
A lower ex-works price on a lower-concentration product frequently loses once freight is added, because you are shipping more inert material per unit of nutrient. On an international container this can reverse the ranking entirely.
3. Choose the incoterm deliberately
Incoterms determine where responsibility, cost and risk transfer from seller to buyer. Choosing casually is how disputes start.
- EXW (Ex Works) — you collect from the seller’s premises and handle everything from there, including export clearance. Maximum control, maximum responsibility. Suits buyers with an established forwarder in the origin country.
- FOB (Free On Board) — the seller delivers to the named port of shipment and handles export clearance. Risk transfers when goods are on board. The most common basis for container shipments.
- CIF (Cost, Insurance and Freight) — the seller arranges carriage and insurance to the destination port. Convenient, but you have less visibility over freight cost, and import clearance and duties remain yours.
Under every one of these, the importer of record is normally responsible for import clearance, duties and any local registration requirement in the destination country. Confirm this explicitly rather than assuming.
4. Check import requirements before you order
This is the step most often left too late, and the most expensive to get wrong. Requirements differ substantially between markets and may include product registration before arrival, specific labelling, phytosanitary or biosecurity conditions, and documentation in the local language.
Our import requirements checklist sets out a structured way to research a market, and our international shipping page covers what we need from you.
Involve a customs broker in the destination country early. The cost of an hour of their time is trivial against the cost of a container that cannot clear.
5. Agree quantity and packaging properly
Quantity
Quantity affects price, but the relationship is not smooth — it steps at logistical boundaries. A full container load prices differently from part-container freight, and a full truck differently from a pallet. Ask where those thresholds fall for your route rather than assuming that ordering 20% more always improves the unit price.
Packaging
Settle the format before the order is confirmed. Consider:
- What your warehouse can physically handle — big bags need equipment
- How the product will be sold on — repacking costs money
- Language and labelling requirements in your market
- Whether pallets need heat treatment to meet ISPM 15
- Storage conditions — several products are hygroscopic and must stay sealed
Our article on packaging and container loading covers the trade-offs.
6. Settle quality documentation
Agree in writing, before the order:
- Whether a certificate of analysis will be provided for the batch supplied
- What tolerance applies to the stated analysis
- What happens if delivered material falls outside specification
- Whether samples can be provided in advance
- What documentation your own quality system or customers require
A supplier who handles these questions clearly is a different proposition from one who deflects them. Our guide on evaluating a supplier goes further.
7. Payment terms and risk
Payment terms are commercially negotiated and depend on order size, relationship history and both parties’ risk appetite. Common structures include advance payment in part or full, letters of credit for larger transactions, and open terms once a relationship is established.
Points worth raising explicitly:
- Which currency, and who carries exchange risk
- How long the quotation is valid — commodity prices move
- What happens if freight rates change between quotation and shipment
- Whether any deposit is refundable, and under what circumstances
Get all of it in the written order confirmation. Verbal agreements about payment terms do not survive a dispute.
8. Plan the lead time backwards
Work from when you need product in your warehouse and work back:
- Production or preparation time at origin
- Inland transport to port
- Sailing time on the route
- Port congestion and customs clearance at destination
- Inland transport to your facility
Then add a margin. Agricultural demand is seasonal and inflexible — product arriving after the application window has closed is worth much less than product arriving before it.
9. Start smaller than you plan to end
With a new supplier, a first order at reduced volume lets you verify specification compliance, packaging quality, documentation accuracy and communication under pressure — for a fraction of the exposure of a full container.
It costs slightly more per unit. It is cheap insurance.
A pre-order checklist
- ☐ Written specification agreed, including the fraction that determines performance
- ☐ Landed cost per unit of nutrient calculated for every quotation
- ☐ Incoterm agreed and understood by both parties
- ☐ Import requirements confirmed with a broker in the destination country
- ☐ Registration status checked, where the destination requires it
- ☐ Packaging format, labelling and palletisation agreed
- ☐ Certificate of analysis arrangements confirmed
- ☐ Payment terms and currency agreed in writing
- ☐ Lead time mapped against your application window
- ☐ Order confirmation received in writing before payment
Talk to us
If you are working through this for a first shipment, tell us the product, the quantity, the destination port and the incoterm you prefer. We will come back with what is workable and flag anything about the destination market that needs checking first.
Start with the product range, or message us on WhatsApp with the requirement.
Need this product, or advice on which grade fits?
Send us the crop, your water analysis and the quantity you need. We will reply with the options that actually apply to your situation.
