Export
What actually happens between your first email and a container arriving
Most export pages describe a process in four friendly steps. Here is the real one, with the timings we hit and the places orders normally get stuck.
The sequence
Nothing here is unusual. It is worth writing down because the gap between what exporters promise and what they deliver is almost always in the documentation stage, and it is almost always predictable.
Enquiry
1 daySend a product list, a molecule list, or photographs of packs you already buy. Tell us the destination country and whether you already hold an import licence. That last detail changes what we can quote.
Quotation
2 to 3 daysYou get unit prices at your volume, MOQ per line, pack details, HS codes, an estimated gross and net weight, and the lead time. If a line is a registration problem in your market, we say so in the quote rather than after you have paid.
Document pack
3 to 10 daysProforma invoice first. Then, depending on what your authority wants, the manufacturer GMP certificate, a Certificate of Pharmaceutical Product in WHO format, a Free Sale Certificate, safety data sheets and stability data. CoPP is the slow one and can add two to three weeks.
Payment
Same day for cryptoCrypto settles in minutes to hours depending on the asset. A telegraphic transfer takes two to four working days and sometimes longer if a correspondent bank decides to review it. Letters of credit take as long as letters of credit take.
Production or picking
7 to 45 daysStocked lines are picked and packed in about a week. Made-to-order lines run 30 to 45 days, and that is real production time at the plant, not padding.
Pre-shipment check
1 to 2 daysBatch numbers and expiry dates checked against the Certificate of Analysis, cartons weighed, labels photographed. You get the photographs before the container is sealed, not after.
Shipping
7 to 35 daysSea freight from Nhava Sheva or Mundra, air freight from Nagpur, Mumbai or Delhi. Cold-chain lines ship in validated packaging with a data logger inside the box.
After it lands
OngoingOriginal documents couriered, or telex release where your bank allows it. If customs raises a query we answer it directly rather than telling you to ask your broker.
Where orders actually get stuck
Four places, in rough order of frequency. Payment is first: a correspondent bank flags a pharmaceutical transfer from India and holds it for review, with no notification to either party, and a fortnight disappears. That is the single biggest reason we ask new buyers to agree the payment route before the goods are packed, not after.
Second is the Certificate of Pharmaceutical Product. It is issued state by state in India, it is not quick, and if your authority also wants it legalised by your embassy in New Delhi you should add another two weeks. Ask for it at the quotation stage, not after the goods are packed.
Third is label artwork. If the destination requires a local language, an importer block or a registration number on the pack, that has to be finalised before production, not after. Fourth is the import permit itself, which several markets require per consignment rather than per product.
What a realistic first order looks like
Twenty to forty product lines, one 20-foot container or a part load, built from stocked items so nothing waits on production. Total value somewhere between fifteen and sixty thousand US dollars. Payment split, with a deposit against the proforma and the balance before the bill of lading is released.
We would rather do that than a single-line order of fifty thousand units, because a mixed first container tells both of us which products actually move in your market. The volume tiers apply on combined order value, so you are not penalised for spreading it.
Pick your market
Registration rules, labelling language and the documents customs will ask for differ in every destination. Each page below sets out the regulator, the dossier format, the labelling requirement and a timeline we believe rather than one that sounds good.
Common questions
How long does a first order take, start to finish?
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For stocked products with a straightforward destination, six to eight weeks from first email to arrival, of which two to five weeks is ocean transit. For made-to-order lines, or a market that requires a legalised CoPP, allow three to four months. Anyone promising you three weeks is describing a courier shipment of samples.
Can you ship samples before a full order?
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Yes. Sample shipments go by courier, usually two to five working days, with a proforma invoice marked as commercial samples of no commercial value. Some countries still require an import permit for veterinary samples, so check before we send.
Who is the exporter of record?
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Sarvalok Animal Health Exports LLP. The commercial invoice, packing list and certificate of origin carry our name and IEC. The Certificate of Analysis and manufacturing licence stay in the manufacturer's name, because that is what a registration authority needs to see.
What happens if a shipment is held at customs?
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We answer the query ourselves. In practice most holds are caused by a mismatch between the HS code on the invoice and the product description, or by a missing health certificate. Both are fixable within a day or two if the request reaches us instead of sitting in a broker inbox.