How to Import SPC Flooring from Turkey

Importing flooring from Türkiye is straightforward when you work directly with the manufacturer. MILAT Floor produces SPC and LVT flooring in Gaziantep and exports worldwide, with FloorScore®, CE and ISO certification to support customs and resale. This guide walks through the process from first enquiry to a delivered order.

Why import flooring from Turkey

Türkiye is one of the world's major floor-covering manufacturing centres, and Gaziantep is its heartland. Buying direct from a Turkish manufacturer like MILAT means certified quality, custom capability, and export experience — without the extra margin of a trading intermediary.

What you need before you order

• Your specification — collection or design, colour, size and quantity.
• Your market's requirements — for the EU, a CE Declaration of Performance; elsewhere, the certifications your buyers expect.
• Physical samples — to confirm colour, texture and quality before committing to a production run.
• Your delivery destination — so shipping terms and timelines can be confirmed.

Documentation and certification for import

• FloorScore® — indoor air quality certification recognised internationally.
• CE Declaration of Performance — required for the European market under EU 305/2011.
• ISO management-system certificates — 9001, 10002, 14001, 27001 and 45001.

Minimum order, lead times and shipping

Minimum order quantities, production lead times and shipping terms depend on the designs, quantities and destination for each order. MILAT confirms these per project and ships worldwide — contact the sales team with your specification for exact figures.

Understand Incoterms before you sign anything

The three-letter code on your quote decides who pays for what and where risk changes hands. EXW means you collect from our gate in Gaziantep and everything after that is yours. FOB means we deliver the goods loaded at a Turkish port and you take over from there. CIF means we arrange the vessel and insurance to your port, and you handle customs and inland delivery. None of these is automatically better; the right one depends on whether you already have a freight forwarder you trust.

• EXW: maximum control, maximum work; best if you consolidate cargo from several Turkish suppliers
• FOB: the most common choice for experienced importers with their own forwarder
• CIF: simplest for a first order; the factory handles the ocean leg

Mistakes first-time importers make

The pattern repeats across markets. Buyers compare quotes with different Incoterms as if they were the same number. They order exactly the square metres the project needs, forgetting cutting waste and a repair reserve. They skip the sample stage to save a week and then discover the colour reads differently under their showroom lighting. Or they leave the consignee details vague and lose days at customs over a mismatched name on the bill of lading. Every one of these is avoidable with one careful email before the order is confirmed, which is why we push new buyers to slow down at exactly that point.

Receiving and inspecting your first shipment

When the container lands, photograph the seal before it is cut, then the doors as they open. Check pallet count against the packing list before the driver leaves. Open a few boxes from different pallets, not just the top row: verify the design code, batch number and plank condition. Any transit damage should be noted on the delivery paperwork on the spot, because a claim raised weeks later is far harder for anyone to honour. Ten minutes of discipline at the kerb protects the whole order.

Think one order ahead

Repeat buyers get more out of a factory relationship than one-off purchasers. Once your first container has sold through, you know which designs move in your market, and the factory knows your labelling, documentation and loading preferences. Placing the next order before your stock runs dry keeps production slots comfortable rather than urgent, and lets you keep colour continuity by referencing earlier batches. The importers who grow fastest treat the first container as a market test and the second as the real start of the business.

Paying a Turkish manufacturer safely

Standard practice is a documented pro forma invoice, a deposit to open production and the balance against shipping documents. Verify bank details by a second channel before the first transfer, and be suspicious of any last-minute change to account numbers; that is the classic pattern of invoice fraud, and it targets buyers in every industry. Working with an established manufacturer helps here: MILAT Floor is a registered Turkish manufacturer with its own factory in Gaziantep, so corporate records, certifications and bank references are all checkable before money moves.