Chemical Quotation Template With Unit, Basis and Terms Columns

When should you use a chemical quotation template instead of a generic quote form?

A chemical quotation template is worth using instead of a generic quote form when the buyer has to check each amount against its unit, its basis and the terms it depends on, which is the case for most industrial chemical quotes. A generic form has columns for item, quantity, unit price and total. A chemical quote also needs the grade, the packaging, the requested and the delivered quantity when pack sizes force rounding, whether the price is per kilogram as delivered or per kilogram of active content, the tax treatment, and the delivery term with its named place.

Hazard data is a second reason. The HKUST chemical procurement system, for example, requires packing size, packing unit, UN number, CAS number and IMDG class in every vendor quotation it receives, because it keeps an inventory of hazardous chemicals on campus (HKUST vendor quotation briefing, accessed 2026). Other buyers ask for similar fields in their own formats.

Use this chemical quotation template once the product and grade are settled and only the quotation remains to be written. Before that point, a product recommendation is the open question, not the quote. A stock or price lookup with no binding terms also does not need the full template; a short reply answers it.

What does each section of the chemical quotation template cover?

The chemical quotation template has four sections, and each one answers a question the buyer asks before signing: what is quoted, what it costs line by line, on which terms, and what is still open. The table below previews every section and item-line field of the template, so a buyer can check that each amount states its unit and basis. All example values are illustrative and come from no real quotation.

The key rows are the unit, basis and source columns of section 2: a line without them cannot be checked by the buyer or by the supplier's own finance team. Section 3 names the delivery term by rule and edition, because Incoterms 2020, the edition the International Chamber of Commerce published, entered into force on 1 January 2020 (ICC, 2020), and a quote that names only the rule leaves the edition open. Section 4 is the only place an unconfirmed value may appear.

What goes in the item lines of a chemical quotation?

The item lines of a chemical quotation carry one product, grade and pack size per line, with every value the buyer needs to recompute the line amount and to receive the goods. A complete line in this template has twelve fields: line number, product and grade, packaging, requested quantity, delivered quantity, unit of price, basis, currency, unit price, line amount, lead time, and the source and as-of date of the price and lead time, plus the UN and CAS numbers when the product is hazardous.

Requested and delivered quantity are two fields because chemical packs rarely divide the order exactly. If the buyer asks for 4,500 kg and the product ships in 1,000 kg intermediate bulk containers, the quotation should show 5,000 kg delivered and state the difference (illustrative). A buyer who compares quotes on the requested quantity alone will misread the total.

Discounts, freight, surcharges and other charges each take their own line, not a reduction or addition hidden inside the unit price. Tax and rounding are stated once, under the lines, with the total. For hazardous goods, put the identifiers the buyer's receiving system needs on the line itself: the HKUST system, for example, requires packing size, packing unit, UN number, CAS number and IMDG class in vendor quotations (HKUST vendor quotation briefing, accessed 2026).

The last field, source and as-of date, records where the price and lead time came from, such as a price list revision or a confirmation from the plant, and when that source was true. A value with no source is not entered; it moves to section 4 as an item to confirm.

How do you state the price basis, unit and active content in a chemical quotation?

You state the price basis in a chemical quotation by writing, on every item line, the unit the price is per, whether it applies to the product as delivered or to its active content, the currency code, and whether tax and freight are included. Each of the four can change the amount by itself, so none should be left to the buyer's assumption.

The unit of price names a mass, a volume or a pack: per kg, per liter, per drum. If the price is per liter but the quantity is in kilograms, state the density used for the conversion and its source. The currency takes its ISO 4217 three-letter code, such as EUR or USD, which the standard establishes so that currency references are clear and errors are reduced (ISO, 2015).

The basis matters for products sold as solutions or dispersions. A price per kilogram of active content applies only to the active fraction, so the quotation must state the active content, its tolerance and the test method, for example a 50 percent aqueous solution priced per kilogram of 100 percent active (illustrative). The delivered quantity and invoice then follow from the measured active content of each lot, which the certificate of analysis should report.

Tax treatment is a statement, not a number to estimate: show tax as excluded, included, or not applicable, with the jurisdiction. When a value cannot yet be stated, write it as to be confirmed and list it in section 4.

Which commercial terms does a chemical quotation need?

A chemical quotation needs six commercial terms: delivery, payment, currency, validity, documents provided, and price change, and each term states whether it follows the buyer's contract or departs from it. Under the CISG, a reply that changes terms on price, payment, quality, quantity or place and time of delivery is considered to alter the offer materially (CISG, 1980, Article 19), so these terms decide whether the buyer's order is an acceptance or a counter-offer.

Delivery names one Incoterms 2020 rule and its place, such as FCA with the named place of delivery or CIF with the named port of destination (US International Trade Administration, 2026). Incoterms rules do not list the contract price, the method or timing of payment, or when title passes (US International Trade Administration, 2026), so payment terms and any title clause need their own rows.

Validity should be a date. Under the CISG, an offer cannot be revoked if it indicates, by stating a fixed time for acceptance or otherwise, that it is irrevocable (CISG, 1980, Article 16). In the United States, a merchant's signed firm offer is irrevocable for the time stated, but in no event longer than three months (Uniform Commercial Code, Section 2-205).

Documents provided lists the safety data sheet, certificate of analysis and any other certificate. In the EU, where Article 31 requires a safety data sheet, it must be provided free of charge no later than the date the substance or mixture is first supplied (EU REACH, Article 31(8), 2006); in the US, distributors must ensure it is provided with the initial shipment and the first shipment after an update (US OSHA, 29 CFR 1910.1200(g)(7)(i)).

How do you fill in the chemical quotation template, step by step?

You fill in the chemical quotation template in five steps, in section order, and you stop at any value that has no source rather than estimating it. Work from the buyer's inquiry and the records that own each value: the price list, the plant or warehouse for lead time, the credit owner for payment terms, and the contract for anything already agreed.

1. Fill section 1 from the inquiry: quotation number, issue date, validity date, reference inquiry, recipient, delivery point and required date. Write the supply scope and the premises the quote rests on, such as a specification revision or a forecast volume.

2. Fill one item line per product, grade and pack size. Write the requested quantity first, then the delivered quantity after pack rounding.

3. For each line, write the unit of price, the basis, the currency code, the unit price and the lead time, each with its source and as-of date. Then add discount, freight, other charge, tax and rounding lines, and the total.

4. Fill section 3 term by term and mark each one as following or departing from the contract.

5. Move every value without a confirmed source to section 4, with who confirms it and by which date, and state how the buyer accepts.

Read the quotation once as the buyer before it goes out. Any amount the buyer cannot recompute from its line, or any term that depends on a value not shown, goes back to step 3 or step 5. The editable Word version of this chemical quotation template is at the end of the page.

Illustrative example: a completed chemical quotation

An illustrative completed chemical quotation for one water-treatment chemical, quoted to a buyer's plant, shows how the four sections fit together on one page. Every product, quantity, date and term in this example is illustrative and comes from no real quotation; unit prices are left as references to the price source because prices depend on the market and the account.

The table below shows the content of each section in the illustrative chemical quotation.

The key row of this illustrative chemical quotation is the item line. Because it shows 4,500 kg requested and 5,000 kg delivered, the per kg as-delivered basis and the price source with its date, the buyer can check the amount and the supplier's finance team can trace it (illustrative). The January lead time is not guessed: it sits in section 4 with an owner and a date, so the quotation states what it still rests on.

When does a chemical quotation template not fit?

A chemical quotation template does not fit when the product is not yet chosen, when the request is for a non-binding budget figure, or when the buyer requires its own format. In each case the four sections either have nothing to hold or must be moved into another document.

If the product or grade is still open, the quote would bind terms to a choice nobody has made. Settle the recommendation first. A ballpark figure for budgeting carries no validity, delivery term or acceptance method, and filling those fields would suggest a commitment that does not exist; say it is non-binding instead. Many buyers, such as the HKUST chemical procurement system with its required Excel quotation template (HKUST vendor quotation briefing, accessed 2026), set their own format: copy the fields of this template into theirs rather than sending both.

The template also does not set the commercial content. It does not choose the Incoterms 2020 rule, calculate prices, approve a discount outside policy, or decide which law governs; those belong to the people who own each value and to the contract. A tender with lots, a long-term supply agreement with price formulas, or a quotation for services rather than goods needs more structure than one item table.

Lubinpla's quote preparation puts the source and as-of date on every price, lead time and term, the same fields as this template, and it does not choose the Incoterms rule or calculate prices.