Incoterm
EXW on a citrus order, and what it leaves out
Ex Works puts the fruit at your disposal at the agreed place in Valencia and stops there. From that moment the loading, the transport, the paperwork and the temperature are yours. The figure quoted looks lower than any other term because it covers less, and the difference lands on your side as work rather than as savings.
The figures
| Incoterms 2020 group | Rules for any mode of transport |
|---|---|
| Delivery point | The agreed place, with the fruit not loaded |
| Risk passes | When the fruit is placed at the buyer's disposal |
| Carriage | Arranged and paid by the buyer |
| Export formalities | Buyer, where the destination needs them |
| Insurance obliged by the rule | Neither side |
What it changes on an order
You are putting two offers side by side
An Ex Works figure and a delivered figure answer different questions. Bring the collection, the freight and the handling quoted by your own forwarder into the first one before you decide which is cheaper, because those costs exist in both and only one of the two prices shows them.
Your fruit is leaving the single market
EU customs rules want an exporter established in the Union on the export declaration. A buyer in London or Zurich cannot file it from there, so somebody in Spain has to be appointed to do it, and that appointment is part of the deal rather than an afterthought.
The load has to stay cold
Risk moves before the pallet is on the truck. Fruit standing on a loading bay while a vehicle runs late is already yours, which makes the collection slot and the state of the fruit at handover worth writing down.
What this note does not settle
- Which terms we trade on is not settled here. Our incoterms, loading lead times and collection arrangements are unconfirmed, and this note explains the rule rather than what we have agreed to do.
- The rule shares out cost and risk. It does not transfer ownership, fix the moment you have to pay, or say anything about what happens if the fruit is rejected on arrival.
- Whether anyone at the packhouse will help load your vehicle is a question for the packer. Ex Works does not oblige the seller to load, and a handshake on the day is not the same as a term in the contract.
Source: ICC Incoterms 2020 rules, Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2015/2446
The figure that looks cheapest on the sheet
Ex Works strips a price down to the fruit and the box it sits in. Everything that moves it afterwards belongs to the buyer, so the number lands on the sheet smaller than any delivered offer beside it and wins a comparison it never entered. Those costs did not disappear with the term. They come back a week later on an invoice from your own forwarder, under headings nobody put next to the fruit price when the decision was being made.
There is a plain way to keep the comparison honest. Ask every supplier to price to the same point, whichever point you pick, and treat an Ex Works figure as an input to that sum rather than as an answer to it. Collection, loading, waiting at the packhouse and the run to your warehouse all cost money. The only open question is whose invoice ends up carrying them.
Somebody in Spain has to sign the export
Outside the single market this term runs into a customs problem that has nothing to do with fruit. European rules expect the party named as exporter to be established in the Union, and a buyer sitting in London or Zurich is not. Someone on this side has to be appointed to make the declaration, and the appointment carries duties rather than just a signature. Arranging it once the pallets are built is the version that goes badly.
Between member states the difficulty vanishes and another one takes its place. Nothing is declared, so the whole term reduces to a loading bay and a clock. Who lifts the pallets onto the vehicle, what state the fruit is in when it goes up, and what becomes of a load left standing in the sun while a truck runs late are the points worth putting in writing.
Talk to the grower
Tell us the variety, the sizes and the delivery week you need. You get a delivered price and what we can commit to in writing, from the person who picks the fruit.
The grower handles enquiries. Response times are still to be confirmed.