Export operations for the small food producer. From the buyer's email to the goods leaving.

Between a foreign buyer's request and the lorry leaving the yard there are eight steps. None of them is difficult. Taken together, and done while also producing, they are where the small producer loses orders it had already won.

This guide covers the stretch from the first email to the goods shipped, and then to the reorder. It doesn't cover how to find buyers (that is another job), nor the food safety rules upstream, which the producer already knows better than anyone writing about export. It also takes the start-up steps as done: which codes and registrations you really need to ship outside the Union, who issues them and in what order to apply, is covered in import export licence.

Each section says three things: what happens, where it breaks, and what can be fixed without buying anything.

Contents

• 1. The email that arrives, and the window in which it is still worth something · in-depth guide with English templates
• 2. Working out whether the buyer is serious, before spending · in-depth guide with the signals
• 3. The technical sheet: the fields the buyer really asks for · in-depth guide with template · the form to download
• 4. The export price list: the Incoterm weighs more than the price · in-depth guide on Incoterms, MOQ and price list · who pays transport, customs and duties
• 5. Samples, and what they really cost · in-depth guide on samples
• 6. The label changes with the country. Sometimes so does who is responsible · in-depth guide country by country · the six market guides
• 7. The shipping documents, in order · in-depth guide on shipping documents · EUR.1 or certificate of origin · the packing list template
• 8. The reorder that doesn't come
• Why there is no software for this part of the work
• Questions and answers

1. The email that arrives, and the window in which it is still worth something

It arrives in English, often badly written because the sender doesn't have English as a first language either. It asks three things: whether you make that product, at what price, and whether you can send the technical sheet. Sometimes it also asks for samples in the same line.

That email didn't arrive only to you. A request for quotation almost always goes to several suppliers on the same day, and the first complete reply that arrives becomes the yardstick by which the buyer reads all the others. Whoever replies third isn't taking part in the same race.

The delay, when there is one, almost never comes from laziness. It comes from the fact that replying well requires information kept in four different places: the updated price list, the technical sheet in English, the availability of the batch, the palletisation data. Putting it together is two hours of work for someone who at that moment is bottling. So the email is put off until this evening, and this evening becomes Thursday.

Every reply to a foreign buyer is rebuilt from scratch, from four different sources. The two hours go there, not on the writing.

What can be fixed straight away. A first reply that goes out within the hour and doesn't yet contain the price: it confirms receipt, says by when the full offer will arrive, and asks for the three pieces of information needed to prepare it (indicative quantity, destination port or city, whether a custom label is needed). It costs five minutes, keeps the conversation open, and the three questions already act as the first filter discussed in the next section. On the value of a fast first reply, and the limits of that data, we wrote a separate article. How to build that reply, with two English templates to adapt, is in the in-depth guide to the first reply; and if behind the custom label there is a proposal under the buyer's brand, the questions to ask before accepting a private label come before the price.

When the request doesn't arrive by email but starts at a trade fair stand, the moment is different, and the work that saves the contact is done during the fair itself, not on the way home: it is covered in after the fair, the follow-up that converts.

2. Working out whether the buyer is serious, before spending

A foreign request costs money. The sheet to translate costs, the samples to ship, the weeks of emails. Of ten requests reaching a small producer, some are real importers, some are intermediaries building an offer for a client they may not have, and some are price-list collections for price comparison.

Telling them apart doesn't take instinct. It takes looking at four things, all verifiable in ten minutes:

• The email domain. A structured importer writes from their own company's domain. An important request from a free address isn't a verdict, but it moves the buyer into the category of those you reply to without investing straight away.
• What they already sell. Two minutes on their website tell you whether they handle your category, in what price range, and whether they already have Italian products in their catalogue. Whoever already sells Italian has the channels, the procedures and the customers ready.
• How precise the question is. A real buyer asks questions that reveal their work: required residual shelf life, carton format, whether you have already exported to that country, whether your plant is registered where it needs to be. Whoever asks only for «best price» and a full price list is doing something else.
• The destination. The country changes everything: the language of the label, the documents, whether there are duties, and in some cases the need for prior registrations. A buyer who can't tell you where the goods end up isn't yet at the point of buying them.

What can be fixed straight away. A written rule, decided once and valid for everyone: the full price list and the samples go out only after the buyer has answered three questions. It isn't rudeness, it is how you prevent the company's time from ending up in the least serious requests. Real requests find those three questions reasonable, and often answer better than expected. The signals to read and the text of the three questions in English are in the in-depth guide on how to recognise a serious buyer.

3. The technical sheet: the fields the buyer really asks for

The technical sheet is the document that decides whether the conversation continues. The buyer passes it to their purchasing office, their quality manager and their freight forwarder: three people looking for three different things in the same sheet. If one is missing, the request doesn't come back with a question, it simply stops.

What it must contain, divided by who reads it:

For purchasing and marketing: sales name, product description, format and net weight, GTIN barcode, product image, any certifications (organic, PDO, PGI, kosher, halal) with the body and the number.

For the quality manager: full list of ingredients in order of weight, allergens highlighted, nutritional values per 100 g or 100 ml, total shelf life and guaranteed residual shelf life at the time of shipping, storage and transport conditions, production plant details, declaration of conformity for the packaging material.

For the freight forwarder, and it is the part most often missing: pieces per carton, carton dimensions and gross weight, cartons per layer, layers per pallet, pallet type, height and weight of the finished pallet, customs code of the product, country of origin.

A sheet without palletisation data prevents the buyer from calculating the transport cost. They can't do the last sum, so they can't decide.

On language: English is the minimum. German is a concrete competitive advantage, because Germany is one of the largest markets for Italian food and receiving the sheet already in their own language takes work off whoever has to assess it.

What can be fixed straight away. One sheet per product, in a single format, with a visible last-updated date at the top. The fields one by one and an English template to copy are in the dedicated in-depth guide, and the blank form can be downloaded ready-made from the technical sheet template in Word and PDF. The value isn't in the design, it is in there being a single version: the moment three different versions of the same sheet start circulating is the moment someone sends the buyer a wrong shelf life. Where the work becomes repetitive (same sheet, four languages, constant updates) is also where assisted preparation of the language versions saves hours, provided the approved version stays a single one.

4. The export price list: the Incoterm weighs more than the price

A price without an Incoterm isn't a price, because nobody knows what it includes. Incoterms are the International Chamber of Commerce rules that establish, for each sale, who pays for transport, who pays for customs formalities and at what exact point the risk passes from seller to buyer.

A complete export price list states, for each line: price, currency, Incoterm with the place (for example «FCA Bari»), minimum order quantity, delivery times, validity of the offer, payment terms.

The point that deserves most attention is the choice between EXW and FCA, because it looks like a nuance and has a concrete tax consequence.

The minimum order quantity deserves some thought, instead of being copied from the Italian price list. Too low and you end up preparing shipments that cost more than they earn; too high and you cut out the first trial order, which is the normal way a distribution relationship begins. A different threshold for the first order and for later ones resolves the contradiction without inventing anything.

What can be fixed straight away. A validity date on every price list that goes out. A price list with no expiry comes back six months later, with the buyer demanding that price, at a time when the raw material has changed.

5. Samples, and what they really cost

Samples are the first real cost of the negotiation, and the only one almost nobody budgets for. Towards a country outside the European Union, three jars in a box travel as a full customs shipment, with a proforma invoice, description, declared value and customs code, even when the goods are given away.

Three things to know before preparing them:

• The proforma invoice is needed anyway. A value must be declared even if you collect nothing, and the wording that qualifies the goods as a free sample of no commercial value must be written explicitly. An unrealistic declared value slows the shipment down instead of speeding it up.
• Health documents may be needed for samples too. Many countries make no distinction between a commercial shipment and a tasting one: if that product and that country require a health certificate, the three jars need one too.
• The cost should be weighed against the buyer's value. A non-EU express shipment with documents can cost more than the goods it contains. That is why the qualification in section 2 comes first, not after.

What can be fixed straight away. A log of samples sent: to whom, when, what, how much it cost, and what happened afterwards. Six columns are enough. It serves two purposes: knowing at the end of the year what acquiring a buyer really costs, and noticing that after a sample nobody called back, which is the most common silent loss in the whole sequence. The full cost of a negotiation up to the first order, item by item, is in the in-depth guide on the costs of the first order.

6. The label changes with the country. Sometimes so does who is responsible

Within the European Union, mandatory food information is harmonised by Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011. Harmonised means that the list of what must be on the label is the same everywhere, not that the Italian label works everywhere: Article 15 establishes that mandatory information must appear in a language easily understood by the consumers of the Member State where the food is marketed, and that each State may require on its territory the use of one or more official languages of the Union.

The text of Article 15 is short and worth keeping in mind in full: «mandatory food information shall appear in a language easily understood by the consumers of the Member States where a food is marketed», and within their own territory Member States «may stipulate that the particulars shall be given in one or more languages from among the official languages of the Union».

In practice: Germany needs German, France needs French. A compliant sticker applied before placing on the market is an accepted and commonly used solution, provided it doesn't cover other mandatory information.

Then there are the obligations that concern not the product label but the packaging, and that take producers by surprise because nobody mentions them until they arrive.

Similar logic applies in France, where extended producer responsibility for packaging and the rules on sorting information fall on whoever places the product on the French market. With two further complications worth knowing before quoting: household packaging and professional packaging follow two separate schemes, with different obligations and contacts, and on who exactly is responsible when the supplier is foreign the public sources don't give a single answer.

The practical consequence doesn't change, and it is the same question as for Germany: who, formally, places the goods on that country's market? It should be put in writing in the agreement with the buyer, before the first shipment, together with who takes on the packaging obligations. A commercial agreement, however, doesn't on its own shift a legal obligation: it says who pays, not always who is liable.

Towards the United States the leap is bigger, because on top of the labelling obligations come requirements that concern the company before the product. A foreign facility that manufactures, processes, packs or holds food destined for the United States must be registered with the FDA and designate a US Agent, meaning a contact physically present in the United States. For every single shipment a Prior Notice must also be submitted before arrival. A third set of checks, the Foreign Supplier Verification Program, formally falls on the US importer, but in practice it translates into documentation your customer will ask you for.

Source: U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Importing Food Products into the United States.

Market	What it requires	Who is responsible
European Union	Mandatory label information in the language of the country where the product is sold (Reg. EU 1169/2011, Art. 15).	The producer, who must supply a compliant label or allow it to be adapted before sale.
Germanysale to a distributor	Label in German. Registration in the LUCID packaging register and participation in a collection scheme.	The German distributor, because they are the first to place the goods on the market.
Germanydirect sale to consumers	Label in German. Registration in the LUCID register and, from 12 August 2026, appointment of an authorised representative established in Germany.	The Italian producer. Registration remains a personal obligation even after the representative is appointed.
United States	Facility registration with the FDA, designation of a US Agent, Prior Notice before every shipment.	The producer for registration and US Agent. The foreign supplier verification programme falls on the importer, who will ask you for the documentation.

What can be fixed straight away. A table with one row per country where you sell or want to sell, and four columns: label language, packaging obligations and who is responsible, registrations required of the company, documents required per shipment. You fill it in once, update it when something changes, and it is the difference between discovering an obligation before quoting and discovering it with the goods held up.

7. The shipping documents, in order

The final list is decided by the destination country, not by the producer. It should be requested in writing from the buyer before preparing the goods, because the buyer is the one in contact with customs at arrival. That said, the structure is almost always the same, and underneath it all is the EX-1 export declaration, the one that lets the goods out.

The base, for any destination outside the European Union:

Document	What it is for	Who prepares it
Export invoice	Compared with a domestic invoice it also needs the customs code of the goods, the origin, the Incoterm with the place, gross and net weight, payment reference.	The producer.
Packing list	The physical content of the shipment: packages, numbers, weights, dimensions, content of each package. It is the document customs uses to check that what is written is what is there. The blank sheet, in Italian and English, is in the packing list template to fill in.	The producer.
Transport document	It accompanies the goods and proves they have been taken in charge. It changes with the mode: road, sea or air.	The carrier or the freight forwarder.
Export customs declaration	This is where the proof comes from that the goods have left the territory of the Union, which is what allows you to support the VAT-free invoice. It must be kept.	The customs broker, on behalf of the exporter.

What is added depending on the country and the product:

• Proof of preferential origin. Towards countries with which the European Union has a trade agreement, showing that the goods are of European origin gives the buyer a reduced or zero duty. It is an advantage for them, but it requires a document from you, which is why it almost always appears in their requests. The classic instrument is the EUR.1 certificate. For consignments up to €6,000 any exporter can replace it with an origin declaration written directly on the invoice; above that threshold you need the EUR.1, or approved exporter status, or registration in the REX system, which is the route provided for by some more recent agreements. Those who often exceed €6,000 save a lot of time by applying for the status instead of requesting a certificate for every consignment: the sums that show whether it pays off, and what changes between the two routes, are in approved exporter or REX.
• The health certificate for export. Many non-EU destinations require a health attestation: in Italy it is issued by the competent local health authority (ASL), on forms prepared by the Ministry of Health. The free sale certificate too, when the destination country requires it, goes through a specific body. Who signs, which forms exist and why the document can't be obtained once the goods have left: timing and procedure of the health certificate.
• Product certifications required by the individual market or the individual buyer: organic, kosher, halal, laboratory analyses, declarations on allergens or GMOs.

What can be fixed straight away. One folder per shipment, containing all the documents and the customs transaction reference, kept for the full required period. The day an inspection arrives, or a buyer disputes a supply from two years earlier, that folder is the only thing that counts.

8. The reorder that doesn't come

The first shipment is a conquest. The second is the business. Between the two lies the most neglected moment of the whole sequence, because it produces no email to read: a distributor who stops buying doesn't write to say so.

The loss is silent by construction. In a relationship with a foreign buyer weeks pass between one contact and the next even when all is well, so three months of silence seem normal until someone looks at the calendar and notices that the last order dates back to November.

The measure you need is just one, and it doesn't take software to calculate the first time: for each customer, the average gap between one order and the next. With that number in hand, every customer who has gone past one and a half times their own interval is a customer to call today, not at the end of the quarter. With twenty customers it takes a spreadsheet and an afternoon.

A customer who has already bought, already trusted you and already knows the product costs a fraction of a new one. They stay idle because nobody looked at a date.

What can be fixed straight away. Calculating the average interval for the customers you have, done once, and a reminder for those who are late. When the customers become enough to make the spreadsheet unmanageable, the calculation is the first obvious candidate for automation, and it is one of the things the Cruscotto keeps under control on its own.

Why there is no software for this part of the work

A producer who has read this far may ask a reasonable question: if these eight steps repeat identically in thousands of companies, why has nobody built the tool that holds them together?

The answer is structural, and it also explains why it is unlikely to change on its own. Management software for Italian food has grown around obligations: batch traceability, self-monitoring, expiry dates, electronic invoicing. These are things the law requires, so every company buys them, so someone has built them well.

Everything that sits upstream of the order, on the other hand, has never been mandatory. No rule requires you to reply to a foreign email within an hour, to know how many days have passed since a distributor's last order, to keep a single version of the technical sheet in four languages. Not being mandatory, it never became a market, and not being a market it produced no tools. The work stayed where it is today: in the head and the inbox of one or two people.

The second reason is size. A company with fifteen employees and thirty foreign buyers is too small to interest a large software vendor, and too structured to keep going from memory. It is exactly the band we work in, and the reason why the page dedicated to food and export talks about requests, buyers and reorders rather than warehouses.

What we do on this stretch is concrete and limited: bringing requests into a single point with a first reply that goes out regardless, keeping the status of every buyer visible without having to rebuild it from the inbox, and making the dates nobody looks at surface on their own. No communication goes out to a buyer without a person having approved it: it is a design constraint, written in Ethics.

But the useful part of this guide stays valid even if you never call us. The «what can be fixed straight away» in each section are eight interventions that need no software, and together they cover most of what gets lost.

Questions and answers