Ask five stone exporters for a price on the same material and you will get five different numbers. The difference is rarely the stone. It is usually the Incoterm – the three or four letters that decide who pays for what after the material leaves the factory. For Gulf buyers, getting this wrong can cost thousands of dollars per container. Here is how it works in plain language.
EXW: the factory-gate price
EXW (Ex Works) means the supplier’s price covers the stone standing in their yard. That is it. Export packing, port handling, customs clearance, ocean freight, insurance, import duty and local delivery are all on you. The price looks great, and it should – you are taking on the whole journey. EXW only makes sense if you already have freight forwarders and agents on both ends. First-time buyers who pick EXW to save money usually end up paying more in surprises.
FOB: the standard exporter quote
FOB (Free On Board) means the supplier gets the stone to the port – Mundra, Kandla or Chennai in India, Xiamen in China – packs it for export and clears it. Once the container is on the ship, it is yours. You pay the ocean freight, insurance, import duty and inland delivery. This is how most Indian and Chinese exporters quote, and it is the fairest starting point for a buyer who has a freight forwarder.
CIF: the convenient one
CIF (Cost, Insurance, Freight) means the supplier also arranges and pays the ocean freight and insurance to your port – Jebel Ali, Hamad, Dammam or wherever the shipment lands. You take over after the port. It is the easiest option and the most expensive one, but there is a hidden benefit: the supplier owns the cargo until it reaches your region, so they have a real reason to make sure nothing goes wrong on the way.
Which one is right for you?
- You import regularly and have a freight partner: FOB. You control the shipping cost, which is usually the biggest variable.
- You want the least hassle: CIF, or work with a sourcing desk that manages the whole thing door to port.
- You are an experienced trader with your own logistics: EXW. Maximum control, maximum work.
What the numbers look like
To give you a scale: a 20-foot container from Mundra to Jebel Ali typically runs between $2,500 and $3,500 (2025-26 rates), before import duty and clearance. That is why the same stone can be quoted EXW at one price and CIF at a price thousands of dollars higher – the freight is real, and someone pays it either way. Always compare quotes on the same Incoterm, or you are comparing apples with oranges.
One thing the Incoterm will not protect you from
None of these terms covers quality. Color variation, thin slabs and breakage are the three most common problems with imported stone, and the Incoterm does nothing about any of them. That is why serious buyers check the actual lot – video call with the yard, physical samples, photos of the exact slabs – before money moves. And it is why small and mixed-container orders, which most factories refuse to touch, are where a sourcing partner earns their keep.
Need a quote for marble, granite or sandstone from India or China? Message IndiStones – we reply within 24 hours.