SOTAV offers a complete range of shipping logistics services, providing clients a one stop shop to ensure a steady flow of goods or raw materials from end-to-end at the most competitive rate. We have a long-standing relationship with our overseas counterparts, which is part of a global network of agencies that allows us to offer a seamless service to our clients. By virtue of the global alliance, we are able to guarantee our shippers the most competitive freight rates to Africa.
Importers and Exporters Incoterms
Exporting is defined as the sale of products and services in foreign countries that are sourced or made in the home country. Importing is the flipside of exporting. Importing refers to buying goods and services from foreign sources and bringing them back into the home country. Importing is also known as global sourcing.
Main players in the shipping process
- Importer: The importer is the buyer. He identifies the need for a product at a specific location, searches for the best supplier globally, and places an order for purchase. There are three types of importers:
- Actual user, who utilizes the imported goods for himself. An actual user can be industrial (uses the goods for manufacturing in his own industrial unit) or non-industrial (utilizes the goods for his own use in a commercial unit, lab, research institute, university, hospital, etc.)
- Established importer, who, as the name suggests, is granted a quota to import a product on the basis of past imports
- Registered exporter, who imports under the government’s export promotion schemes
- Exporter: The exporter is the seller. He manufactures or procures the product required by the buyer. The various types of exporters are:
- Merchant exporter, who procures the product from the market or manufacturer and exports it in his name
- Manufacturer exporter, who procures raw material, manufactures the goods and exports the finished product
- Service exporter, who exports services (software, consultancy services, etc.)
- Third-party exporter, who exports goods and services on behalf of another exporter (manufacturer exporter)
- Project exporter, who provides goods and services on contract (designing, manufacturing, etc.) and earns foreign exchange
- Deemed exporter, who supplies goods that don’t leave the country and receives payment in Indian currency. Such a transaction qualifies as an export because the goods are meant for specific projects (UN agency projects, power projects, nuclear projects, etc.)