The one major issue that many buyers get hung up upon and its mostly down to inexperience or false information provided via several sources. Let us tackle the major concerns:

 

POP

Is a Proof of Product mainly requested by Traders for their alleged clients or buyers with limited experience of purchasing sugar. A POP is always issued from the actual supplier of the sugar, being the mill or processor, it is made out to the actual buyer, not the trader or broker and is done once an order is placed.

 

Myth… Banks need a POP, well no they actually don’t , banks work in finance not sugar some of them will ask for documentation, however that is often supplied by the sellers contract, which as all the required proof of supply and purchase. Frequently brokers often ask for a Proof of Product, to send to the buyers bank, or having their bank advise POP documents. The psychology of this thinking is  the assumption that the bank has some official ill defined to vet and examine deal or contracts. Only in Hollywood Movies does this exist, Bank operate in finance not contracts, for that you need a lawyer and that will cost a significant amount of your money.

 

Myth…. A proof of product exists, well no technically it does not, often people have little idea of what they are talking about in such matters. Look at it logically proving the product exists will come from the Sugar supplier on their paperwork. If you are buying sugar its easy to check the supplier they will have all the public media outlets showing that they produce sugar. Your documentation will be traceable.

 

 

 

 

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Please refrain from asking for Past Performance Documents

Lets be really serious about this, all sugar contracts are covered by Non disclosure agreements between the buyer / seller and appointed intermediaries , Non disclosure means that these documents are not to be disclosed to any third party outside of that individual contract, it is illegal  to disclose any information, unless you want to be sued out of existence in court, and we certainly don not want to ruin a good reputation  built up over 25 years.

 

Don’t not ask for us to plagiarise documents…. Some times the less reputable of people will as this in the misnomer that its okay to remove certain aspects of a non- disclosure agreement  ( like names, and prices, or destination) should we get this request, we will terminate all discussion with immediate effect. Plagiarising is an illegal act.

 

Inspections and Visits

We  can be  arranged  and undertake these facilities at the discretion of the sugar producer. Remember these facilities are not under our control and often consent is required. Visits can be at the processing facility / storage or warehousing or with the correct permits at the departure port. This are not usually available at short notice, plenty of advance notice is require with the name of the individuals, their company and copy of passports are required. Visits are a service provided by the supplier to customers only, not prospective buyers who think they might like to visit and maybe place an order in the future. Please be respectful, these visits take a lot of time to organise and also you should consider these can consist of long journeys and long days for those accompanying your visit.

 

Payments and Deposits

All payments are made to registered independent escrow / remittance companies that have no influence by either ourselves or the supplier or buyer. Their duty is to follow the contract by the letter. All deposits are made in the name of the buyer / payee and held on account until each stage of the contract is accomplished. Before each payment is released to the supplier, the escrow / remittance company will have provided the required documentation for the payment to be released and then also ask for consent to remit the payment to the supplier.

 

Should the supplier be in default the buyer can wait if he chooses for it to be remedied or his order can be cancelled and his payments refunded. If the buyer is in default or cancels after work has been done by the supplier or product been moved it is likely he will lose his deposit

 

Why do suppliers ask for a deposit?

This is an aged old question , however if you look at it logically, then you will understand. Think that first there are many acres of sugar cane which needs to be tendered and looked after for many months. It is then harvested and transported to processing, which is several operations. Once processed its packed and bagged sent to storage and SGS inspections are requested. All of this costs time and money, time of many thousands of people ( salaries) and the cost of production, and transportation. Sellers need to know that clients are good for their payments, and even deposit are not often enough to cover the costs incurred to that date

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Now ask yourself the simple question, Would you do all of that free without any reservation or booking payment and hope that the prospective buyer pays his bill on time after you have encountered all those costs?.. Now you know why supplies ask for deposits.

 

Shipping times and schedules

There are key ports in the major countries of sugar suppliers. these ports h=often have weekly or frequently shipping schedules to almost all the global ports in the world. So on delivery please be mindful, there is processing time as most orders are booked months in advance, transportation time to the port, loading time and finally time it takes the ship to sail from the departure port to the arrival port. You will be advise of frequent progress of your orders.

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Sugar Samples

This appears to be an obsolete request relating to suppliers of sugar from many years ago. There are several aspects to this that buyers should be aware of today. Mills will supply sample but only to customers NOT to potential customers. If you want a sample just walk to you local grocer or supermarket buy a bag of sugar being the product of Brazil and there you have a sample of Brazilian sugar.

 

Why Mills don’t usually offer samples is because they are irrelevant. A sample is taken from the production order the client has, not a random sample of stock. A random sample has no legal standing to any consignment or production purchase, as its very different to what batch of sugar the client is getting, so technically its not a respective sample of the product the client has booked and has no legal standing being it's different form the clients order.

 

Secondly all sugar has a plethora of certifications issued by SGS, which related to the exact batch of sugar the client is buying, so is retrospective a real sample of the clients stock.