Two routes onto the same shelf
The declared table for 2024 puts 16,836,606 US dollars of chocolate and 23,025,683 of sugar confectionery through this market. Below the neighbour the picture widens: Germany at 4.8 per cent on chocolate, Poland at 1.6 per cent and India at 1.4 per cent on confectionery.
Those are goods from outside the region clearing here as ordinary business, so the sea route is worn rather than theoretical. Türkiye sits on the same table, 17th at 0.14 per cent and 16th at 0.11 per cent: thin, but a lane with paperwork behind it.
Three hours to the sea, then the quay
We load in Gaziantep. Mersin is about three hours away by road, and that first leg, the one nobody asks about, sets the date the box is available. The distance is short enough that several producers load into one container inside a tight window.
From Mersin the goods take the sea leg to the port of entry you name. The voyage ends at a quay instead of after a long haul overland through the region, and the goods change hands once rather than at each border they would otherwise cross.
The delivery term decides where your leg starts
Four terms are quoted. FCA Gaziantep hands the cartons to your forwarder at our factory door, so the road to Mersin and everything after it are yours to book. FOB Mersin moves the handover to the vessel, CIF carries the sea leg to the port of entry, DAP ends at a place you name inland.
A term with no place named is an argument postponed, so the offer writes down the term, the port of entry and who carries any onward leg to an inland town.
Reefer lines, dry lines, and how far the cold chain reaches
Chocolate and chocolate-coated lines are quoted in a reefer through the warm months; Turkish delight, dragées, jellies and wrapped confectionery travel dry, and both can share one box; the offer names the reefer lines.
Temperature is a chain question, not a product question. Control begins in our store, holds through the road to Mersin, continues inside the container and has to survive the far side of the quay as well, because an onward road leg in the heat is where an unwritten setpoint gets discovered.
Who declares it, and what the pack says in English
The entry is filed by the importer of record, and the description given there is yours to answer for. Which origin document travels and which rules bite go into the offer as they stand on the day it is written; your clearing agent confirms the position. No duty figure appears here in advance, because that treatment moves.
Our side is unchanged: a technical data sheet per product, an analysis report per line, and certificates for our factory. English carries the mandatory content on the pack: the name of the food, ingredients with allergens, metric net weight, storage conditions, the importer’s name and address, and the date marking. A coating made with vegetable fat is called a compound or a glaze, never chocolate — the European Union does not permit the word on such a coating.
What to send so the route can be priced
To price a route rather than describe one, send the lines you want quoted; the format for each — bulk carton, retail box, wrapped piece or jar, with jarred lines quoted as spread; the port of entry and the delivery point; and whether the pack keeps our standard pack or carries your brand.
One container can be mixed across as many lines as you like. Couverture, bulk chocolate by the kilo, raw nuts, dried fruit, cocoa, baklava, halva and tahini sit outside the range: sourced on request, and we confirm composition and format before quoting. Send the list, and the offer comesback in writing, line by line.
You have a seaport, so which legs are ours and which are yours?
The delivery term settles that and the offer names it: FCA Gaziantep, FOB Mersin, CIF or DAP. Under FCA everything from our factory door is booked by you; under CIF the sea leg runs to the port of entry; under DAP the onward leg to an inland place is included. Whichever term you take, the offer writes down the port of entry and who carries the leg after it.
Who files the customs entry, and what is said about duty?
The importer of record files the entry and answers for the description given; no supplier holds that position for you, and your clearing agent confirms the position on the day. The offer names the origin document and the rules in the form valid on the day it is written, because arrangements and duty treatment move and a figure printed in advance would be stale.
Does the reefer cover the leg after the port as well?
It has to, whenever the goods finish inland, so the transport instruction is written that way. The offer states which lines are reefer lines — chocolate and chocolate-coated lines through the warm months — and which travel dry, such as Turkish delight, dragées, jellies and wrapped confectionery. Both can share one container.
