Practice
What belongs in a bulk materials request
A usable RFQ names material form, quantity, destination, timing, Incoterms preference, and the specification. It does not assume a published price.
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A request for quotation is a description of a requirement. It is not a purchase order, and the form that receives it is not an offer. The better the description, the less time both sides spend translating adjectives into tons.
Name the material in the form the ship will carry. For this company the current subject is raw, unground granulated blast furnace slag. If you need ground slag cement, say that plainly so the request is not priced as the wrong good. If you need a different bulk material, say what it is. Future scope on the site is not a catalog.
Put a quantity and a unit. It can be a range. “Some” is not a stowage calculation. Put a destination that is a place: a plant, a terminal, or a port area specific enough to discuss draft and discharge. “U.S.” is a market. It is not a berth.
State timing, even if the timing is a quarter rather than a laycan. State the Incoterm you prefer — FOB, CFR, CIF, DAP, or another basis — and accept that the basis is a proposal until a contract adopts it. Different bases move different risks. A page of definitions will not choose one for you.
Attach or describe the specification: the oxides, glass, moisture, size, and contamination limits you will enforce, and the method if you have one. If you do not have a written window yet, say that the first step is a sample against a draft window. A quotation without a specification is a guess with a letterhead.
Add who you are. Company, role, and the email a reply should use. Add whether you can receive and store the granule, or whether you are asking on behalf of a processor. A trading introduction and a mill requirement are both legitimate. They are not the same credit and not the same technical file.
Leave prices off the first message if you would rather see a response against your specification. GulfGran does not publish a standing price, a freight band, or a duty assumption. Those figures, when they exist, are for a named shipment and they go stale.
Use the request a quote form. You will get a reference number when it is stored. That number means we have the message. It does not mean the cargo is booked.