Most problems in a steel order are not caused by the mill. They come from details the order never pinned down, and they usually surface only after the goods are on the water, when changing anything has become expensive. A quotation that looks complete on unit price can still leave the specification, the invoicing basis and the recourse open. Settling those points before the purchase order is signed is the cheapest risk control available to a buyer.
Start with the specification, because a grade such as Q235B or 304 on its own is not a complete instruction. State the governing standard and, where it matters, the edition, so that the mill and the buyer are measuring the same thing. Decide whether thickness is nominal or held to a particular tolerance class, and say plainly whether the finish and the edge condition you expect are oiled, pickled, mill edge or trimmed. These choices change both the price and the way the material behaves in your own process.
The commercial basis decides what you actually pay. Weight is settled either on theoretical weight or on actual weight from the weighbridge, and the two are not interchangeable, particularly once coating weight and packing are included. Where the material is coated, agree whether coating mass is quoted as a total for both sides or as a single-side figure. Confirm the Incoterm as well, because it settles who books the vessel, who insures the cargo and the point at which risk passes.
Finally, agree the evidence and the recourse before shipping rather than after a problem appears. A mill test certificate for each heat number, loading photographs showing the container number and, on larger contracts, an independent inspection before sealing give you a record you can rely on later. Decide in advance which documents a claim requires, how long after arrival it may be raised, and who carries the cost of a replacement shipment. We have manufactured and exported steel for more than twenty years from an eighty-thousand-square-meter facility with an annual capacity of six million tons, serving buyers in more than one hundred countries under ISO 9001. Send us your specification, quantities and destination port, and we will put every one of these details in writing with the offer.