A focused intermediary for complex physical trade
Sarpah is a commercial intermediary and international trade coordinator. We connect qualified buyers with suitable supply across international markets and coordinate the commercial, documentary and logistics workflow to the agreed destination.
Our work begins with a transaction brief, not a generic promise of supply. We qualify the commodity, specification, quantity, origin constraints, destination, shipment window, regulatory requirements and proposed payment structure before deciding whether an introduction is credible.
Our role
Sarpah may:
- Clarify the buyer's requirement and the seller's stated capability
- Identify and compare plausible origin and route options
- Coordinate introductions and information exchange
- Help the parties align commercial, inspection, logistics and document workstreams
- Maintain communication through agreed execution milestones
Sarpah is not the buyer, seller, carrier, warehouse operator, inspector, insurer, customs agent, bank or legal adviser. We do not take title, make delivery as principal, certify quality, clear customs, hold client funds or issue bank instruments.
Why this boundary matters
Physical commodity transactions involve several independent decision-makers. The seller must stand behind the contractual goods and delivery obligation. The buyer must complete its own technical, commercial and counterparty review. Banks decide whether an instrument and correspondent route are acceptable. Inspectors, carriers, insurers and destination authorities act within their own mandates.
Sarpah's value is disciplined coordination between those parties. Coordination does not transfer their legal or professional responsibilities to us.
A transaction-specific standard
Before an introduction progresses, we expect enough information to assess:
- Counterparty identity, authority and beneficial ownership
- Product specification and permitted tolerances
- Quantity, packaging or bulk form, and shipment window
- Origin, load point and destination options
- Inspection, certification and destination-entry requirements
- Delivery rule with its named place
- Payment proposal and the banks expected to participate
- Sanctions, export-control and regulatory questions requiring professional review
A commodity category can be generally tradable while a particular seller, vessel, bank, route, service or destination is restricted. For that reason, Sarpah does not describe a cargo as automatically lawful, bankable or insurable.
Contracts and rulebooks
Buyer and seller contract directly. The sale contract should identify its governing law and dispute mechanism. ICC trade rules do not become governing law merely because they are mentioned.
UCP 600 can govern a documentary credit that expressly incorporates it. URDG 758 can govern a demand guarantee that expressly incorporates it. ISP98 can govern a standby letter of credit that expressly incorporates it. Incoterms® 2020 can allocate specified delivery obligations, costs and risk at an agreed named place. None of those rulebooks replaces the sale contract, sanctions analysis or destination law.
NCNDA and IMFPA documents, when used, are private agreements. Their scope, duration, territory, confidentiality protections and compensation are negotiated for the engagement.
How origin options are assessed
Suitable origins are assessed against the buyer's specification, quantity, shipment window, destination and landed economics. The live offer identifies the proposed producer or seller, country of origin, load point, quantity and route.
Each proposed transaction is reviewed using the actual origin, counterparties, banks, vessel or carrier, route and destination. The origin and route guides explain the assessment process, while jurisdiction-specific material is grouped separately under Market Guides.
Work with Sarpah
Buyers can submit a transaction brief. Originators and authorised seller-side representatives can present supply capability. Applicants with relevant local buyer-development capability can review the regional sub-agent programme.