A lane that is bought on paper first
Our factories are at Perumbavoor, Kerala, about 40 km from Cochin Port, and our group began working timber there in 1986. A buyer in Turkey orders from a specification sheet, an emailed photograph and a bank transfer, long before anyone sees a panel. So the things that decide whether this lane works are unglamorous: that the panel matches the sheet you approved, that the paperwork is ready before the vessel sails, and that you can check who we are without asking us for anything.
All three are answerable. We warrant that every shipment conforms to the grade and standard on the proforma invoice at the time risk passes — same thickness, same bond, same construction. The document set is emailed on sailing, not chased afterwards. And the registrations that prove our company is real sit on one page, each with the portal you can check it on: see verify us before you pay.
We quote FOB Cochin in USD. You or your forwarder book the ocean carriage and name the discharge port, which keeps our number a clean panel price you can set line by line against any other origin.
What we ship to Turkey
Four constructions cover most of what a Turkish importer asks a Kerala manufacturer for. Mixed loads are normal — a container split across two or three of these is a standard order, not a special request.
| Product | Grade / spec | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Packing-grade plywood | MR bond, IS 303 | 6, 8, 12, 15 and 18 mm are the usual run. For cases, crates and industrial packing. |
| BWR hardwood plywood | BWR bond | Where the crate takes a long voyage or the panel will see moisture in service. |
| Calibrated Okoume-face panel | Okoume face, eucalyptus core, E1 glue line available | Sanded and calibrated to a consistent thickness across the sheet. The 16 mm panel weighs about 32 kg. Bare or HPL-laminated. |
| Film-faced shuttering plywood | Phenolic film | Formwork panels for repeat concrete pours. |
Adjacent lines out of the same port: marine plywood to IS 710 BWP, ready-made boxes and crates, pallets and container flooring ply. Cores are rubberwood and eucalyptus; faces are Okoume or Gurjan, and the species detail is on woods we use.
Import essentials for Turkey
What your clearing agent needs to land a plywood shipment in Turkey. We quote FCA or FOB Cochin in USD; customs duty and any import tax are added at import, on your side of the transaction, not ours.
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| HS code | Heading 4412. The national item within 4412.31, 4412.33, 4412.34 and 4412.39 turns on panel construction and individual ply thickness as well as face species; finished cases, pallets and drums are generally considered under 4415. Your broker confirms the line, and we state the code we ship under on the commercial invoice. |
| Customs duty and import tax | Not quoted by us and not in our price. Your clearing agent confirms the tariff line and the rate in force. Import tax is not charged on CIF alone: the base is the customs value plus customs duty, and local law may add excise, fees and other incidental charges. Turkey applies a base customs duty of 7% on CIF value for most plywood constructions under HS 4412.31–.39, plus a further 20% additional customs duty under Decision No. 3351 — a combined burden of roughly 27% on CIF, since India does not currently qualify for any FTA or GSP reduction with Turkey. VAT (KDV) is 20%, charged on CIF value plus both duties. |
| Clears at | The discharge port you nominate. We sell FOB Cochin, so your forwarder books the carriage and names the port; it then goes on the proforma invoice. |
| Standards and certification | Nothing is included by default. BIS licences are held factory by factory, so no single CM/L number covers everything we make; any certificate or test report that applies to your order is named on the quotation by holder, number and product scope. Name FSC chain of custody or a CE Declaration of Performance at enquiry; we quote it only where our factory for your order holds it, and the quotation names the certificate — it cannot be added after the panels are pressed. TS EN 636 (Plywood — Specifications), Turkey’s adopted standard mirroring EN 636. Whether a shipment falls under mandatory pre-clearance inspection depends on the current year’s product-safety communiqué — ask your clearing agent to confirm before you order. |
| Documents we provide | Commercial invoice, packing list with net and gross weights, and the Bill of Lading with every shipment. A Certificate of Origin where the destination, bank or contract requires one. A treatment or fumigation certificate only where that treatment was actually carried out, and a phytosanitary certificate only where the commodity or destination rules call for one. |
| ISPM-15 | Plywood panels are exempt — processed wood, no stamp and no fumigation certificate. Solid-wood packing such as pallets, runners and bearers does fall under the standard; in the pallets and crates we make, those parts are treated and IPPC-marked by a DPPQS-registered treatment provider where the destination requires it, with a treatment certificate where the quotation states it. |
| Container weight | We load within the lower of the ship-line payload and the road weight limit at your end, and the sheets must fit the container. The general ship-line payload is about 26.5 tonnes into a 40 ft; the figure that applies to your booking is confirmed on the proforma invoice. |
| Typical transit from Cochin | Transshipment via Colombo to Mersin (Ambarli/Istanbul the alternative for Marmara-region buyers) — no source confirms a direct sailing out of Cochin. Estimates disagree by more than a few days: roughly 25 to 35 days port to port under normal Suez routing versus 30 to 44 days on strings currently diverting via the Cape of Good Hope. Confirm which routing your forwarder’s service is running before quoting a date to your buyer. |
Terms, and what you see before the container sails
Export quotes are in US dollars under Incoterms 2020, and always name the place the term applies to. FCA Cochin is normally right for a sealed container handed to your carrier; FOB Cochin applies where we deliver on board the vessel you nominate. CFR and CIF are quoted where that is agreed at enquiry.
Payment is 50 per cent advance with the order and the balance before dispatch for standard products, and 100 per cent advance for made-to-order and custom-fabricated goods. Payment is by bank transfer (T/T), and the beneficiary name always matches the company named on the proforma invoice.
Before the container leaves: pre-shipment inspection is welcome, by you or any third-party agency you appoint, and we hold the goods for it. You also get photographs and video of your own container as it loads, and a packing list with the same net and gross weights we declare to the shipping line. The full sequence is set out on how we handle an export order.