Fixed carbon and sulfur with both a target and a rejection limit, particle size with a distribution rather than a range, a moisture cap, a nitrogen cap, quantity, packing format, Incoterm and discharge port, delivery window, payment terms, and the documents you require. The two omissions that most often produce incomparable quotes are the nitrogen cap and the particle size distribution.

The sulfur specification. On published 2026 grade tables, moving from sulfur at or below 0.05 percent to at or below 0.03 percent is worth about USD 100 to 120 per tonne, and 0.03 to 0.02 is worth a further USD 160 to 180. Nothing else on a specification sheet moves the number as far.

Less than most buyers assume - roughly USD 40 to 60 per tonne across the standard bands. Published 2026 tables put 5–10 mm at USD 680–760, 0–1 mm at USD 700–780 and 1–5 mm at USD 720–820. Choose on process fit rather than price, because the recovery penalty of a wrong size dwarfs the price difference.

Yes, and more than suppliers imply. Packing a tonne into 25 kg bags needs 40 bags against one 1,000 kg jumbo; at roughly USD 0.40 to 0.80 per bag that is USD 16 to 32 per tonne in packaging alone, before extra handling labour. If your process can take jumbo bags, say so explicitly in the enquiry - the packaging page works through the loading consequences.

Whatever your counterparty risk supports. At 6 percent annual cost of capital, extending from 30 to 90 days is worth about USD 10 per tonne on a USD 1,000 per tonne price. That is real across a 500-tonne order but small against a sulfur step, so never trade a looser specification for longer terms.

Insist on a stated validity, typically 7 to 14 days for spot. GPC has no exchange settlement, so a quote without a validity date can be withdrawn or repriced at will. A supplier who will not commit to a validity period is signalling that they expect the market to move against them.

Yes, and specify per batch rather than typical. Require fixed carbon, sulfur, ash, volatile matter, moisture and nitrogen, with the batch number matching the marks on the bags. A typical-analysis sheet describes what the grade usually is, not what is in your container.

One container, which for 1,000 kg jumbo bags means roughly 25 to 28 tonnes depending on bulk density. Below that you are paying less-than-containerload rates and per-tonne freight rises steeply. Above about 100 tonnes you should be negotiating on a different basis entirely.

Usually because they are not the same grade. Published tables show bands hundreds of dollars wide for nominally similar material, and much of that width is real product difference a one-line specification does not capture. Ask for fixed carbon, sulfur and particle size distribution together; if two quotes still differ by more than 10 percent, one of the other levers is doing the work.

FOB if you control your freight and trust your forwarder; CIF if you want one number and one point of responsibility. On a USD 1,000 per tonne product the CIF–FOB difference is typically 8 to 15 percent, so never compare a CIF quote to an FOB quote without converting. Confirm which basis a published price carries before benchmarking.

Convert it to the grade row you are buying, on the Incoterm you are buying, at your quantity - then compare. The most common error is benchmarking a 1–5 mm low-sulfur quote against a table whose top end includes needle-coke-based material at USD 1,400 to 1,900 per tonne. Build your own comparison from quotes you have actually received; after six months it beats any published index.

Sometimes - it is the highest-value trade on the sheet. Moving from 0.03 to 0.05 percent sulfur is worth roughly USD 100 to 120 per tonne. At a foundry addition of 27 kg per tonne, the extra sulfur contributes about 13 ppm to the iron. If your melt has that headroom, take the money; if it does not, the trade is a false economy.

A per-batch certificate of analysis, a packing list with bag marks and weights, the bill of lading, a certificate of origin, and a commercial invoice stating the HS code used. Calcined petroleum coke sits under HS 2713.12 and graphitized material is frequently declared in the same heading depending on destination - confirm the code with your broker before shipment, not after.

For a first shipment from a new supplier, yes. Budget roughly USD 300 to 600 per container, which is USD 12 to 24 per tonne on a 25-tonne container - cheap against specification drift you would otherwise detect only at the furnace. For repeat shipments from an established supplier, periodic sampling is usually enough.

Add inland haulage to port, export clearance, ocean freight, insurance and destination charges, then add your own working capital cost for the transit period. Better than any rule of thumb: ask the supplier to quote both bases on the same specification. The difference you get back is the real number for your route.

You can ask, but expect a premium or a volume commitment in return, because the producer is taking feedstock risk they cannot hedge - there is no GPC derivative. A more workable structure is a quarterly price review tied to an agreed formula referencing CPC, with a collar. If a supplier offers a twelve-month fixed price with no commitment from you, read the force majeure clause carefully.