What can you import with $20,000 from Türkiye

You can import a 20′ container of mixed Turkish brands FMCG household detergents, personal care products, and diapers.

Here is why,

• FMCG goods are easier to sell,
• Turkish brands are cheaper with similar quality
• Mixing heavy and light items will maximize container space usage
• Türkiye has a central location

In the scope of this guide, we will consider that you have $20,000 just to purchase goods from Turkey and there are more finances to secure later expenses.

FMCG products you can buy and mix with us:

Why FMCG category?

Each category has a minimum operational amount of money.

Your expenses do not end with the purchase in Turkey; there are also transportation expenses, import expenses, VAT, inland transportation, storage, cost of realization.

Less budget required

Bigger budget opens more opportunities and much riskier to manage at the same time. The $20k mark is good amount to start with.

While many product categories require much higher initial investments, for FMCG it is just about right budget to check the waters.

Less risks involved

The more sophisticated and expensive the item gets, the harder it is to sell and turn over.
With smaller budgets, it is wiser to go after commonly used daily products.
This category is called FMCG – Fast-Moving Consumer Goods.

FMCG is generally divided into 2 groups – food and non-food. Non-food is much less riskier.

If this is your first experience of importing goods and wholesaling them, then we strongly advise avoiding the food category.

FMCG is flexible

In the table below, you can compare how FMCG offers are more flexible and easier to sell compared to different product category (here furniture).

Your main goal as a beginner is to put as many different products into a 20′ container as possible in order to increase your offering range and decrease risks.

CATEGORY	MAX TON /20′ CNTR	AV. PRICE USD/TON	USD/20′ CNTR	MOQ TON
DETERGENTS	24 TONS	$700	$16,800	4 TONS
SOAP	20 TONS	$1,700	$34,000	1 TON
SHAMPOO	12 TONS	$1,200	$14,400	1 TON
BABY DIAPERS	6 TONS	$2,000	$12,000	1 TON
FURNITURE	3 TONS	$4,000	$12,000	5 TONS

Global Restrictions to consider

Global restrictions that must be taken into account because neither buyer or seller can’t influence them.

Logistics, MOQ, Certificates, Restrictions

Logistical aspects

The main modern transportation unit is pallet. Specifically euro pallet. No matter which transport route you use, land, sea, air, 99% of the time the main cost calculation unit will be a pallet.

Then there are 2 main routes for international trade when dealing with Turkiye: Truck transportation and container transportation. Here are loading capacity of each vessel:

• Truck 25 – 33 euro pallets
• 20ft container 11 euro pallets
• 40ft container 24 euro pallets

Then there are 2 main options: FCL (full container load) and LCL (Less-than-Container Load).

Without going into details the main idea to understand is that when you book a whole container it is 30%-100% cheaper per pallet than when you try to book less than a container. And 20ft container is enough to start with.

MOQ aspects

Size of the product and cost per unit are crucial factors in determining what quantity is considered to be wholesale.

Quick example: When buying wholesale detergents the minimum order is around 5000 packages, but when it comes to elevators 10 units is already reasonable quantity to negotiate the price and conditions.

Based on this information we can come to conclusion that the smaller the budget gets, the cheaper unit/cost ratio the optimal product will have.

Government restrictions and monopoly

Governments do usually protect and monopolize local production and consumption of basic and strategic commodities.

Here is 2023 example of how Ghana considered import restriction of basic commodities:

Ghana’s Ministry of Trade and Industry has proposed ban or restrictions on imports of certain goods, including rice, sugar, poultry, fruit juices… . The proposed legislation empowers the trade minister to issue licenses to potential importers of goods.

source

On the other hand USA do not restrict sugar import but take a look at list of requirements to meet before allowed to import and sale sugar:

Products like sugar, salt and metal can be sold very fast on fixed price. The temptation to start with such low risk, almost fix price products is high. However these are one of the most regulated products and shall be avoided until necessary experience is gained.

Other possible ways of creating trade barriers are: import duties, certificates

Fortunately FMCG category is one of the most freely traded and less regulated. Which means less troubles during import and sale.

Conclusion

Doing business is getting harder every year, starting a business is even harder if you do it alone and without guidance of experienced partner.

Knowing all the ‘What’, ‘When’, ‘How’ is something gained with many years of experience and is crucial to avoid crucial mistakes that will lose you money.

FMCG items made in Turkey is good place to start doing and growing your business.