How to Import Marble and Granite from Egypt
Start with a sample and a complete quotation
Natural stone is bought on appearance, so start with a physical sample. It confirms colour, finish and texture, but treat it as a reference rather than a guarantee: every block differs, and the material cut for your order will sit in a range around it. For colour-critical work, agree in writing how production will be approved, for example against a reference slab or photographs of the selected bundles before packing.
Then ask for a quotation that leaves nothing to assumption: material and grade, format (slabs, tiles or cut-to-size), dimensions, thickness, finish, quantity, packing method, delivery term and price validity. Egyptian law requires exporters to be registered in the Exporters' Register run by GOEIC, the General Organization for Export and Import Control, so a serious supplier can show that registration along with its commercial register extract.
Reading the price: EXW, FOB, CFR and CIF
Stone quotations are written in Incoterms, the trade terms published by the International Chamber of Commerce. Seven rules, including EXW and FCA, work for any mode of transport; four, including FOB, CFR and CIF, are reserved for sea and inland waterway transport. Each rule fixes where delivery takes place, where risk passes to you, who contracts for carriage and who insures.
Under FOB the seller delivers the goods on board the vessel at the named Egyptian port, and from there freight and risk are yours. Under CFR and CIF the seller also pays ocean freight to your destination port, but risk still passes when the goods go on board in Egypt, so the transit risk is yours. CIF adds insurance, and the Incoterms 2020 default is only the minimum Institute Cargo Clauses (C) cover, so ask for higher cover if you need it. For containers handed to a carrier at a terminal, FCA is often the more accurate term than FOB.
Ports and containers: stone is weight-limited
Egypt's container traffic moves through a handful of ports: Port Said, Alexandria, Damietta and El Dekheila on the Mediterranean, and Sokhna (Ain Sokhna) on the Gulf of Suez on the Red Sea side. Which one a supplier loads from depends on where its factory is and where you are shipping, so ask for the port of loading to be named on the quotation.
Stone fills a container by weight long before it fills it by volume. The maximum payload of a standard 20-foot container is about 28.2 tonnes, and a 40-foot box carries only slightly more (around 28.8 tonnes), so it cannot carry twice the stone. Real loads are often lower because of road rules at the destination; one exporter loads about 24 tonnes for some European destinations, and other shippers quote 24 to 26 tonnes per 20-foot container, roughly 70 to 75 large 2 cm slabs or 50 to 52 at 3 cm. Confirm the destination limit with your forwarder before the supplier plans the load. Since 1 July 2016 SOLAS has also required a verified gross mass (VGM) for every packed export container, and a container without one must not be loaded.
Packing and ISPM 15 wood treatment
Slabs are strapped into bundles on wooden A-frames; tiles and cut-to-size pieces travel in wooden crates. The packing itself takes roughly 2 to 5 percent of the container's weight allowance.
Because the packing is wood, it falls under ISPM 15, the international phytosanitary standard covering crates, pallets, skids and dunnage. Compliant wood is debarked, treated by heat or methyl bromide fumigation, and stamped with the IPPC mark: the IPPC logo, a two-letter country code, the treating facility's number and the code HT or MB. The mark replaces a phytosanitary certificate and may only be applied to wood that has actually been treated; processed wood such as plywood is exempt. Non-compliance is costly: the United States, for example, refuses entry to shipments with non-compliant wood packaging. Write ISPM 15 into your order and ask to see the mark in the loading photographs.
Documents and inspection
Four documents follow every stone shipment. The commercial invoice is the legal sales document between exporter and buyer and one of the main documents customs uses to assess duty. The packing list details each package with quantities and weights and is not a substitute for the invoice. The certificate of origin is a signed statement of where the goods were produced, usually validated by a chamber of commerce; only some countries require it. The bill of lading is the contract between the owner of the goods and the ocean carrier, and you normally need an original to take possession.
Keep descriptions, quantities and weights identical across all documents; mismatches are a common cause of customs delays. A supplier's checks before packing normally cover dimensions, thickness, finish and appearance. For a large or colour-sensitive order, ask for photographs of each bundle or appoint a third-party inspector before the container is sealed. Import clearance, duties and destination-specific certificates are handled at your end.
Payment terms you will be offered
International trade uses four main payment methods. Cash in advance, usually by wire transfer, removes credit risk for the exporter and is the least attractive for the buyer. A letter of credit is a bank's commitment to pay once the shipping documents match the credit's terms; it is one of the most secure instruments for both sides, and because banks deal only in documents the paperwork must be exact. Documentary collections release documents through the banks against payment at sight or acceptance later; they are cheaper than letters of credit but offer no verification and limited recourse. Open account, with payment 30, 60 or 90 days after shipment, is best for the buyer's cash flow and the highest risk for the exporter, so it is reserved for established relationships.
Which of these a supplier accepts, and in what split between deposit and balance, differs from company to company and order to order. Ask at quotation stage, and for the terms we work with on a specific order, contact us.
Stones in this guide
Need sizes, finishes or a quote? Contact us.
