Importing a Cold Press Oil Machine from Turkey: A Buyer's Checklist

Buying a press is the easy part. Getting it through a port, past a customs officer, into your building and running on your electricity supply is where first-time importers lose time and money.

This guide is written for the buyer, not the seller. It lists what you should settle before you place an order, what each shipping term actually obligates you to do, and which questions you should be asking your own customs broker rather than asking a manufacturer. Where a figure depends on your country, your port or your factory, we tell you how to obtain that figure instead of guessing it for you.

Nothing here is specific to one supplier. Use it with any Turkish manufacturer, including us.

1. Agree the specification sheet in writing before you pay anything

A quotation is not a specification. Ask for a separate document, attached to the proforma invoice, that states at minimum:

• Model code and quantity. If you are buying more than one machine, or a CSP-LINE arrangement of presses in sequence, the sheet should list each unit separately.
• Throughput, stated two ways. Ask for the efficient continuous rate and, where it exists, the wider operating range. These are not the same number and confusing them is the single most common source of dispute. A machine can be pushed above its efficient rate, but oil separation and cake quality change when you do.
• Motor rating and heater rating, listed as separate loads.
• Supply voltage, phase and frequency. See the next section — this one deserves its own paragraph.
• Overall dimensions and net weight per unit. You need these for the door you will carry it through, the floor it will stand on, and the freight quote.
• Residual oil left in the cake, expressed as a maximum or a range.
• What is included in the box. Screws, cages/barrels, nozzles or dies, filter, collection vessels, tools, wiring, control panel. Anything not written down is not included.

Also agree the seed the machine is being configured for. A press that handles sesame, flax, black cumin, sunflower, pumpkin, walnut, almond, peanut, canola, hemp, coconut and similar oilseeds may still need a different nozzle or a different pressing temperature per seed. Tell the manufacturer what you will actually run, in what order, and how often you will switch.

If you can, send a sample of your own seed for a test press before ordering. Your crop’s moisture, oil content and cleanliness are yours — no supplier can predict your result from a catalogue.

2. Voltage is the most expensive detail to get wrong

Machines are built to a supply. Changing that after shipment is slow and sometimes impossible.

Before you order, get these four answers from your electrician, in writing:

1. Voltage and tolerance at the socket, not the nominal grid figure. Measure it.
2. Phase. Do you have single-phase only, or a genuine three-phase supply at the installation point? Our smaller presses — CSP-5, CSP-10 and CSP-15 — are built for 220 V single-phase. CSP-30 is a 380 V three-phase machine. A three-phase machine cannot simply be plugged into a single-phase outlet.
3. Frequency. 50 Hz and 60 Hz are not interchangeable for motor speed. State yours.
4. Available capacity on the circuit, and whether other equipment shares it. Motor and heater draw are separate loads; your electrician should size the breaker and cable for both together, plus starting current.

If your grid is unstable or your site runs on a generator, say so at quotation stage. Voltage stabilisers, generator sizing and protective devices are decisions to make before manufacture, not after a burned-out motor.

3. Ask for a spare parts and wear parts list

Every screw press has consumable parts. The pressing screw and the cage or barrel wear against abrasive seed. Heaters, seals, bearings and electrical components age.

Request two lists:

• Wear parts — the items you will replace as a matter of routine, with part identification so you can reorder without describing them over a chat app.
• Recommended initial spares — what a sensible buyer keeps on the shelf from day one, especially if your country’s air freight from Turkey is slow or expensive.

Ask how spares are supplied later and who pays the freight on them. Ask whether the parts are proprietary or whether locally available bearings and electrical components can be substituted. Do not accept a promise of “lifetime support” without a parts list behind it.

4. Agree the documentation package before manufacture

Documentation is cheap to include at the factory and painful to obtain afterwards.

Ask for:

• An operating manual in a language your operators read, not only the supplier’s language.
• A wiring diagram and electrical schematic for the control panel.
• A parts diagram with identifiers.
• Cleaning, lubrication and maintenance instructions, with intervals.
• A packing list showing exactly what is inside each crate.

On certificates: ask the manufacturer directly which conformity documents they can provide for your destination, and what those documents actually cover. Then ask your own importer’s association, customs broker or regulator which documents your country requires for imported food-processing machinery. These two lists are not always the same. Treat any certificate as a document you must see and verify — not as a claim to accept verbally. If a machine will be used for food production, also check with your local food-safety authority which material declarations they expect for parts contacting the seed and oil.

5. Incoterms in plain language

Incoterms decide who arranges transport, who pays for it, and — separately — at what moment the risk of loss or damage moves from seller to you. Many buyers assume payment and risk transfer together. They do not.

Four terms cover most machinery shipments from Turkey.

Practical notes:

• FOB and CIF are sea and inland-waterway terms. For air freight or a truck delivery, FCA, CPT, CIP or DAP fit better. Using FOB for an air shipment creates ambiguity nobody wants during a claim.
• Always name the exact place. “CIF” alone means nothing. “CIF [your port]” is a term. The named place is where the term’s obligations end.
• CIF looks cheapest and often is not. The seller’s freight forwarder chooses the route and the destination agent, and destination charges at your port are yours to pay. Ask a local forwarder to quote you FOB plus their own freight, then compare the landed totals — not the two headline figures.
• EXW gives you maximum control and maximum work. It is a reasonable choice only if you already have a forwarder in Turkey who can handle export clearance for you.
• Write the Incoterms version into the contract, for example “CIF [port], Incoterms 2020”. Terms have been revised over the years and the differences matter.

Whatever you choose, confirm separately who buys cargo insurance and for what value. Under FOB and EXW nobody insures the cargo unless you do.

6. Packing: sea versus air, and why the crate has a stamp on it

Presses in this class are compact machines, but they are dense, and they contain a motor and a control panel. How they are packed determines whether they arrive working.

For sea freight, expect a wooden crate. Sea containers get hot, humid and salty. Ask about:

• A moisture barrier or shrink wrap around the machine inside the crate.
• Desiccant inside the crate for long voyages.
• Bolting or bracing the machine to the crate base so it cannot shift.
• Protection or removal of anything protruding — hoppers, outlets, panel doors.
• Whether the crate has a forkliftable base, and whether you have a forklift at the other end.

For air freight, weight is what you pay for and airlines charge on the greater of actual or volumetric weight. A smaller single-phase press is a realistic air shipment; a larger three-phase machine usually is not, on cost. Ask for the gross weight and the crate dimensions before you decide, and ask your forwarder to price both modes. Air is often the right answer for urgent spare parts even when the machine itself went by sea.

ISPM-15 is the international standard for wood packaging in trade. Most countries require solid wood packing material — crates, pallets, dunnage, bracing — to be treated against pests and marked with the IPPC stamp showing the treating facility and the treatment method. The stamp must be visible on the packaging itself.

Why this matters to you as the buyer: if the wood is untreated or unmarked, customs at your port can order the consignment fumigated, re-packed, held, or in some jurisdictions returned or destroyed — at your cost, with your machine sitting in a yard. Confirm in writing that any wooden packing is ISPM-15 treated and marked. Plywood, OSB and processed wood-based panels are generally outside the scope of the standard, which is one reason some shippers use them; if your crate is plywood, ask about the pallet and the internal bracing too, because those are often solid wood.

Finally, ask for photographs of the packed crate before dispatch. It costs the supplier nothing and gives you evidence if the crate arrives damaged.

7. Customs classification and duty: ask your own broker, not your supplier

This is the part of the process where suppliers should stay quiet and buyers should get professional advice.

Your import duty, VAT or GST, and any preferential rate depend on the HS classification applied in your country. We will not state a code for you, and you should be sceptical of any exporter who does. Classification is a legal determination made by your customs authority, tariff schedules differ in their national digits beyond the international heading, and a wrong code creates underpayment penalties or overpaid duty you may never recover.

Do this instead:

1. Appoint a licensed customs broker in your own country before you order. Not after the goods arrive.
2. Give the broker the technical data, not a marketing description: what the machine does mechanically, the motor rating, the presence of a heater, the weight and dimensions, and whether it is presented as a single machine or as a line of machines working together. Send the photographs and the manual.
3. Ask the broker to confirm the classification and to quote you the applicable duty rate, import taxes, port charges and any inspection fees.
4. Ask whether a binding tariff ruling is available in your jurisdiction. Many customs administrations issue advance rulings that protect you from reclassification later. Where offered, it is usually worth the delay.
5. Ask about preferential origin. Turkey has trade arrangements with a number of countries and blocs. If your country has one, ask your broker which origin document is required, whether a declaration on the invoice suffices, and what the exporter must state on it. Then ask the exporter, before shipping, whether they can issue it. This is a question to raise at quotation stage — not when the goods are already on the water.
6. Ask about non-tariff requirements: import licences or permits for machinery, pre-shipment inspection schemes (several countries operate them and they must be arranged before loading), electrical safety approvals, and any food-contact equipment registration.
7. Get an estimate of your landed cost: goods value plus freight plus insurance plus duty plus taxes plus port and handling plus inland delivery. Compare suppliers on this number, never on the machine price alone.

8. Documents that normally travel with the shipment

Confirm the exact list with your broker, because requirements vary by country. Typically you will need:

• Commercial invoice — with the correct value, currency, Incoterm and named place, and a clear goods description.
• Packing list — crate count, dimensions, net and gross weights, contents per crate.
• Bill of lading (sea) or air waybill (air). Check whether your bank or your import regime needs an original bill of lading; if so, know who holds it and how it reaches you, because cargo cannot be released without it.
• Certificate of origin, and separately the preferential origin document if you are claiming a reduced rate.
• Insurance certificate, where the term or your financing requires one.
• ISPM-15 fumigation or treatment evidence, if your country asks for it in addition to the stamp on the wood.
• Pre-shipment inspection certificate, where your country’s scheme requires it.

Two habits that save real money: check the draft documents before they are finalised, and check that the description and value are consistent across all of them. Correcting a bill of lading after issue is slow and chargeable; inconsistent paperwork is the most common reason a clean shipment sits in customs.

9. Settle installation and commissioning in advance

Small presses are largely plug-in machines; a line of presses is not. Decide who does what before the crate arrives.

Questions to put to the supplier:

• Is the machine supplied assembled, or partly disassembled for transport? If partly, what assembly is required and is it documented?
• What is the recommended clearance around the machine for operation and for removing the screw during cleaning?
• What does the floor need to be — level, load-bearing, drained?
• Is any ventilation or extraction expected in the room?
• Is remote commissioning support offered — video call, written procedure, guided first run — and in which languages?
• What is the first-run procedure? Most screw presses need a warm-up and a break-in run before they reach steady output, and a first-run mistake can damage the screw.
• How is the machine cleaned between different seeds, and how long does a changeover take in practice?
• If on-site commissioning by a technician is possible, who pays travel, visa and accommodation, and who applies for the visa?

Questions to answer on your own side:

• Who will operate the machine daily, and who trains them?
• Do you have filtration and settling capacity downstream? A press produces oil with sediment; your product quality depends on what happens after pressing as much as during it.
• What will you do with the cake? For many operations it is a second revenue stream, and it needs storage and a buyer.
• Have you agreed with the supplier what happens if a component fails on first run — who diagnoses, who ships the replacement part, and by which mode?

10. A short pre-order checklist

Print this and tick it before you transfer any money.

1. Written specification sheet attached to the proforma invoice.
2. Measured voltage, phase and frequency confirmed by your electrician, and matched to the model.
3. Wear parts list and recommended initial spares agreed.
4. Documentation package listed: manual, wiring diagram, parts diagram, maintenance schedule, packing list.
5. Certification expectations checked with your own regulator, then requested from the supplier.
6. Incoterm chosen, with the exact named place and the Incoterms version written into the contract.
7. Cargo insurance: decided who buys it and for what value.
8. Packing agreed: crate type, moisture protection, bracing, ISPM-15 treatment and marking confirmed in writing.
9. Broker appointed; classification, duty, taxes and any import permit or pre-shipment inspection confirmed by them.
10. Preferential origin document, if applicable, confirmed with both broker and supplier.
11. Document list agreed and drafts reviewed before finalisation.
12. Commissioning plan, first-run procedure and support channel agreed.
13. Landed cost estimated, not just the machine price.

Talk to us before you fill in the checklist

We build commercial cold press oil machines in Turkey and ship them to buyers who are usually doing this for the first time. The most useful conversation is the one that happens before a specification is fixed: what seed you are pressing, what your electricity supply actually is, how much you need to produce per day, and where the machine is going.

Tell us those four things and we will tell you which model fits — CSP-5, CSP-10, CSP-15, CSP-30, or a CSP-LINE arrangement of presses in sequence — and what we can and cannot document for your customs authority.

Request a quote, or send us a sample of your own seed for a test press. Your seed, your result, before you commit.

Request a quote