O Papel dos Agentes de Compra em Portugal

Muitas empresas que com regularidade adquirem produtos de origem portuguesa, possuem em Portugal o que se poderá designar como Centrais ou Agentes de Compras. Com maior ou menor dimensão estas entidades (individuos ou empresas) tem por função a procura, aquisição, controle e embarque dos bens e serviços requeridos pelo cliente.

Ao analisarmos a realidade portuguesa, esta opção toma contornos de necessidade básica. Em Portugal, muitas das empresas que estão a vender e/ou tentar vender os seus produtos no mercado de exportação, não só não dispoem de um departamento com pessoal qualificado para fazer face ás diversas situações que surgem ao se operar no mercado de exportação, como ainda encaram as vendas no mercado de exportação da mesma forma que encaram as vendas no mercado interno.

Ao procurarem produtos portugueses alternativos os importadores debatem-se com inumeras dificuldades, desde a barreira da língua,  a morosidade dos processos burocraticos locais,  atrasos constantes na entrega das encomendas, inflexibilidade dos fabricantes face aos meios de pagamento comumente utilizados no Comércio Internacional, a custos elevados no transporte das mercadorias por serem muitas vezes obrigados a recorrer a soluções desadequadas, como o embarque por via aerea de produtos que poderiam seguir por navio se as coisas fossem efectuadas correctamente até ao envio de contentores maritimos com o espaço subaproveitado porque um ou mais fornecedores atrasou entregas.

Um Agente em Portugal tem entre outras funções a de estabelecer com os fornecedores um contacto de proximidade e controle quer a nivel de preços, quer de qualidade quer ainda a nivel de prazos de entrega. A optimização de entregas e transporte será outra das suas funções. A coordenação entre as condicionantes dos fornecedores e as necessidades do importador constituem a base operacional destes agentes.

È para reduzir os custos dos importadores e, melhorar a qualidade dos serviços que lhes são prestados pelas empresas portuguesas que existimos. Devido ao nosso conhecimento das realidades do dia-a-dia das empresas portuguesas, conseguimos fazer nossas as preocupações dos nossos clientes e, em conjunto,  encontrar soluções.

Assim a existência de um Agente em Portugal é para muitas empresas uma necessidade vital que lhes irá permitir que se empenhem a 100% no desenvolvimento do seu negócio,  evitando o desperdício por parte do empresário de tempo e recursos.

Letter of Credit

When the buyer and the seller don't know each other, how do we prevent the business from failing ? And at the same time protect the interests from both the Buyer and the Seller?

The most used way is the use of a Letter of Credit. By being a Bank to Bank payment agreement this instrument is suitable for the majority of situations concerning International Commerce, once the payment goes from the Buyer's Bank to the seller's bank directly and has the Buyer's Bank garantee that if certain conditions are entirely fullfilled the payment will be done in due time.

As easy as this may look, both the buyer and the seller have to take some precautions if they want theyr interests duly safeguarded.

The main intervenients in a Letter of Credit are:
Orderer: The person that instructs the bank to open the Letter of Credit, usually the Buyer
Beneficiary. The person to receive the payment, usually the Seller
Issuing Bank: The Bank that issues(opens) the Letter of Credit
Notifying Bank : The Bank nominated to notify / Advise the Beneficiary that a Letter of Credits in his favour has been opened with the following details
Confirmation Bank: If required by the Issuing Bank the Letter of Credit can be "Confirmed" by another Bank,usually the notifying bank.

A Letter of Credit confirmation means that the Bank adding it's confirmation to a certain Letter of Credit takes the responsability to pay the due amount of the Letter of Credit if all the requirements mentioned in the Letter of Credit are duly fullfilled by the Beneficiary.

So if you're a Seller you must ask your customer to issue an Irrevocable and Confirmed Letter of Credit and check out carefully all the terms of the Letter of Credit you receive, including documentation, validity dates, goods description, etc

If you're a Buyer you must make sure that validity and shipping dates, goods description, goods origin and required documents do really meet your needs so you may be able to proceed with import proceedures without problems.

If you need further information please call Paulo Nunes Porto - e-mail: paulonunes.porto@gmail.com or at the mobile phone (+351 96 9446897)

Incoterms - Are you using them correctly ?

This post doesn't pretend to cover all the related aspects with the Incoterms, but as far as my experience shows me, most of exporters and importers aren't aware of the relevant importance of having the correct Incoterm chosen in their exchanges.

The Incoterms are one of the most important aspects in what international trade is concerned. They define exactly what the responsabilities of both the buyer and the seller are. Through the incoterms you are able to know exactly waht expenses are of your account. For instance if you are selling your product CIF Luanda you have to pay all export cost, freight charges and taxes as well as insurance the goods up to arrival at destination port, but all charges and costs after arrival of goods to the destination Port will be on buyer's account.

Therefore, and in order to avoid unexpected cost it's quite important that when presenting a selling offer to a potential customer, your proforma / offer / quotation clearly states the valid incoterm.

The most common incoterms are:

CIF  (Given place ) - Read Cost Insurance and Freight - meaning that seller has to pay for all costs and insurance up to destination

C+F / CFR (Given place ) - Read Cost and Freight - meaning that seller has to pay for all costs up to destination but, the insurance of goods is on Buyer's account

FOB (Given place ) - Read Free On Board - meaning that seller has to pay for all cost up to goods on Board on transport at a given point

Besides the above mentioned incoterms there are other less know like:

Ex- Works - Goods available at suppliers facilities
FAS           -  Free Along Side Shipp - meaning that supplier deliveres the goods at the side of the vessel
CPT           -  Freight payed up to (given place)
DAF          -  Delivered at Border (given place)
DES          -  Delivered at the Vessel (Destination Port mentioned)

There are several more Incoterms, but all of them were conceived to clearly define where the goods have to be delivered and who's responsible for paying the charges.

For more detailled infomation please call Paulo Nunes Porto - e-mail paulonunes.porto@gmail.com or at the mobile phone: (+351) 96 9446897