Trade Process Guide

This page follows the stages set out in the TIMPEX.club Trade Process Guide. The full guide, including worked examples from a real cashew shipment, is available as a PDF.

1. Sales contract and Letter of Credit

The critical set of documents that protect the buyer and the seller of the transaction.

• Sales contract — the agreement with the buyer, covering product specifications and HSN code, quantities and pricing, and delivery and payment terms.
• Letter of Credit (LC) — a bank guarantee ensuring payment to the procurer/seller upon presentation of compliant documents after loading the product.

Note: the sales contract sets the transaction terms, and the LC must match it exactly for documents, timelines and payment release. LC terms may include a validity period for the supplier to complete procurement and shipment.

2. Procurement, quality and loading

1. A thorough quality check and testing by SGS or equivalent — quantity and quality verified at the supplier warehouse.
2. Packaging: all the bags need to be compulsorily labelled.
3. Book the shipping container and arrange loading of the goods, ensuring the container is prepared according to the product requirements — for example, installing insulation sheets and moisture-absorbing bags for cashews.

What this stage produces: quality and quantity certification, labelling, and loading.

3. The shipping document set

The documents a sales contract of this kind calls for:

1. Invoice
2. Packing list
3. Phytosanitary certificate
4. Fumigation certificate
5. Bill of lading
6. Certificate of origin

4. Distribution and market delivery

Cargo movement from port to warehouses, then on to the buyer.

5. Before you trade live

To execute live trades, participants must complete the training programme and obtain certification. TIMPEX.club supports you with transport and compliance.

Open the full Trade Process Guide (PDF) · Enroll now

This page summarises the guide. Some stages are covered in more depth in the PDF than here.