Truck Delivery of Bulk Cooking Oil to Canada and Mexico

For buyers in Canada and Mexico, cooking oil from the United States does not need to cross an ocean. It can travel by truck from the supplier’s facility to your warehouse, kitchen or plant, usually in days rather than weeks. Crossing a land border still needs the right documents and, on your side, the right registrations. This guide explains how it works.

How it works

We deliver by truck from whichever of our Tennessee, Mississippi or Oregon facilities best suits your destination, typically arriving 3–10 days after dispatch in Canada and Mexico. Orders are dispatched within 24–48 hours of payment clearing, depending on order size. Every pack size can travel by road, from cases of bottles and 20-liter jerrycans on pallets to drums and IBC totes, and full or mixed loads can be planned for your quantities.

Shipping terms

• DAP (Delivered at Place) is the usual choice. We arrange the truck to your named address, ready for unloading; you handle unloading and import clearance, duties and taxes.
• FCA (Free Carrier) suits buyers with their own carrier. We clear the goods for export and hand them to your truck at the named place.
• CPT (Carriage Paid To) is also possible, with carriage paid to your named place and risk passing at handover to the first carrier.

See our guide to Incoterms for bulk cooking oil for how each term divides costs and risk.

Documents for the border

• Commercial invoice. For Mexico, the commercial invoice must be in Spanish.
• Packing list.
• Road bill of lading or transport document. Mexico also requires the Carta Porte, an electronic complement to the transport document, for goods moved by road.
• Certificate of Analysis for each lot.
• Certification of origin, if you are claiming preferential duty under the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (see below).

On the US side, most shipments to Canada are exempt from the Electronic Export Information filing that other exports need, unless a specific requirement applies. Our guide to shipping documents explains each document in more detail.

Importing into Canada

• Safe Food for Canadians licence. Most foods imported into Canada require the importer to hold a Safe Food for Canadians (SFC) licence from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, issued for importing food and for the products being imported. Where required, a preventive control plan must be in place before applying. The licence number must be entered exactly as issued on the import declaration, or the import will be rejected.
• Labeling. Prepackaged food sold in Canada must meet Canadian labeling rules, which generally require English and French.
• Customs broker. Most importers use a Canadian customs broker to file the import declaration.

Importing into Mexico

• Importer registry. Mexican importers must be listed in the Padrón de Importadores, the official register of importers maintained by the tax authority, and some product groups need additional sector registration.
• Customs declaration. Imports are cleared with a pedimento, the Mexican customs declaration, usually filed by a licensed customs broker (agente aduanal).
• Labeling. Prepackaged food sold in Mexico must carry labels in Spanish that meet Mexican labeling standards.
• Strict compliance. Mexican customs rules are strict, so check documents carefully with your broker before the truck leaves.

USMCA and duty

Goods that qualify as originating under the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA, known in Canada as CUSMA and in Mexico as T-MEC) can enter with preferential duty treatment. To claim it, a certification of origin is needed. There is no set form, but it must include a minimum set of nine data elements, and it can be completed by the importer, the exporter or the producer.

Whether a particular oil qualifies depends on the USMCA rules of origin for that product, which look at where and how it was produced. Tell us if you want to claim USMCA treatment, and we will confirm whether we can certify origin for the oils on your order. Your customs broker can confirm the duty position in your country.

Planning a cross-border order

• Confirm your registrations first: an SFC licence in Canada, or the Padrón de Importadores in Mexico.
• Appoint a customs broker and share our documents with them before the truck arrives at the border.
• Check labels for retail packs in English and French for Canada, or Spanish for Mexico. Private label packs can be printed to your requirements.
• Think about temperature. Palm, coconut and palm kernel oil can set in a Canadian winter; jerrycans and drums are easiest to warm. Our guide to storing bulk cooking oil explains how.
• Combine oils on one truck to reach our 1,000-liter minimum and make the most of each delivery.

Add the oils and pack sizes you need to your quote list, tell us your delivery address, and your quotation will show the route, the shipping terms and an estimated arrival date. See our export and shipping page for more on our routes.

Sources

• Canadian Food Inspection Agency: Importing food with a Safe Food for Canadians licence
• US International Trade Administration: Mexico import requirements and documentation
• US International Trade Administration: Mexico labeling and marking requirements
• US International Trade Administration: Electronic Export Information (EEI)