How to compare plywood quotations: why two 18 mm quotes differ and what each difference costs

How to compare plywood quotations: the short answer

How to compare plywood quotations comes down to one rule: compare the panel, not the price. Two quotes for “18 mm plywood” are only comparable when they describe the same build, packed the same way, on the same terms. A line the quote leaves blank is a question to ask, not a free choice for the mill.

1. Put every quote on one sheet, one row per specification line, one column per supplier.
2. Fill the blanks by asking: a line the quote leaves out is a question, not a free choice for the mill.
3. Convert prices to the same unit, currency and Incoterm.
4. Price each difference: core, plies, glue, real thickness, face, sanding, packing.
5. Check the seller: registry, factory video, certificates and bank account in one name.
6. Sample the two best and measure them against their own quotes.
7. Carry the winning build unchanged into the proforma invoice and the contract.

The rest of this guide works through each step, with a side-by-side example of two 18 mm commercial plywood quotes.

Why are two 18 mm plywood quotes so different?

Two 18 mm quotes differ because “18 mm plywood” names a size, not a panel. Behind the same words, mills build very different products: the core species and grade, the number of plies, the glue, the real thickness and the face veneer each move the cost.

None of these is wrong in itself. A packing crate does not need a calibrated, double-pressed panel. What matters is that both quotes describe the build you need.

What does the mill’s segment have to do with price?

Vietnamese mills usually serve one segment: top-grade furniture, commercial and packing, premium film-faced or budget film-faced. A furniture mill and a packing mill both quote “18 mm plywood”, and both are honest. Their prices differ because their panels differ. A common mistake is comparing two offers from different segments as if they were the same product.

Plywood quote comparison: a side-by-side example

A worked plywood quote comparison shows how much sits behind the headline price. Here are two illustrative quotes for “18 mm commercial plywood, 1220 × 2440 mm, one 40HC”, as a buyer might receive them.

Quote B is lower on the total, but it describes almost nothing. Before it can be compared, the buyer needs nine answers. When they arrive, the gap usually shrinks or reverses.

Which differences did the example hide?

When Quote B’s answers came back in this example, they showed a mixed hardwood core in grade C, nine plies, E2 emission, unsanded faces and a real thickness of 17 mm. Each of those lowers cost:

• Mixed grade-C core: lower-cost veneer, more gaps and overlaps.
• Nine plies instead of 11–13 plies: fewer, thicker veneers, less glue and labour.
• E2 emission class: higher formaldehyde release, which may not meet your market’s emission rules.
• Unsanded faces: no sanding line cost; the buyer sands or accepts a rough face.
• 17 mm real thickness: about 5.6% less wood than a full 18 mm panel.

Quote B was a different, lower-cost product. It may still suit a packing use, but it is not the same panel as Quote A.

How do you build a plywood quote comparison sheet?

A comparison sheet turns several quotes into one table you can read in a minute. Build it before you read the prices.

1. List the rows from your own specification: size, thickness and tolerance, core species and grade, ply count, pressing, glue, emission class, face and back species and grades, sanding, moisture, packing, quantity in sheets and m³, price and unit, Incoterm and port, payment terms, lead time, validity, documents.
2. Add one column per supplier, and copy each quote into it word for word.
3. Mark blanks in a colour: each blank is a question to send back.
4. Send the questions in one email to each supplier, with the same wording.
5. Normalise prices to one currency, one unit and one Incoterm.
6. Add a row for the seller check: registry, factory video, certificates, bank account.
7. Add a row for samples: received, measured, approved.

Our RFQ checklist gives the same rows as an enquiry template, which makes quotes easier to compare from the start.

How do samples confirm the quote?

A sample is the quote made physical, and it should match the quote line by line. When the samples arrive, measure each against its own supplier’s quote before comparing them with each other.

• Count the plies on the edge and compare with the quoted ply count.
• Measure the thickness with a caliper at the corners and mid-edges, against the quoted tolerance.
• Weigh the sample and scale to a full sheet: the weight points to the core species.
• Look at the face and back against the quoted grades.
• Check the moisture with a meter, against 8–12%.

A sample that does not match its own quote tells you how the production will be quoted and shipped. Sign and keep a piece of the sample you approve, and name it on the proforma invoice.

How much does the core species change a plywood quote?

The core is most of a plywood panel’s volume, so its species and grade move the price more than any other line. It also changes the weight, and with it how many cubic metres you can ship in one container.

A heavier core reaches the container’s weight limit before its volume limit. With a planning payload of 28,000 kg, a 40HC holds about 53 m³ of 18 mm Styrax-core panels but about 43 m³ on eucalyptus. The freight is the same per container, so the freight per cubic metre is higher on the heavier core.

Why does “hardwood core” tell you nothing?

“Hardwood core” covers almost every species a Vietnamese mill uses, and it can mean a mix of species and grades in one sheet. A quote should name the species and the grade. Mixed cores are not always bad, but they cost less to make, and they change weight, colour at the edge and how the panel machines.

Many European furniture buyers choose a Styrax core because it is light and gives a clean face; switching from acacia to Styrax can lower the cost per cubic metre delivered, because more cubic metres fit in the container.

How do ply count and pressing change the price?

More, thinner plies make a flatter, more stable panel with better screw holding, and they cost more in veneer handling and glue. An 18 mm panel is usually built with 11–13 plies, most often eleven.

What fewer plies change:

• Thicker core veneers, which hide gaps more easily and can telegraph through the face.
• Less glue and labour, which lowers the price.
• Weaker screw holding and edges that look coarse when exposed.

Pressing matters as much. In double pressing, the core board is pressed and calibrated first, then the face and back are pressed on. A single-pressed panel is lower-cost but less even in thickness, and defects in the core show through the face more often. Our furniture panels are double-pressed as standard.

How do you check ply count from a quote and a sample?

Ask for the ply count in writing, then count the plies on the sample edge. Face and back count as plies. If the quote says 11–13 plies and the sample shows nine, the quote and the sample are for different panels, and the lower-cost one usually ships.

How do glue and emission class change a plywood quote?

Glue type and emission class are two separate lines, and quotes often merge them or leave both out. The glue decides how the bond behaves in moisture; the emission class decides how much formaldehyde the panel releases.

The TSCA Title VI limit for veneer-core hardwood plywood is 0.05 ppm under EPA’s formaldehyde emission limits. Furniture plywood uses UF glue at E0 emission, and our panels are certified CARB P2 / TSCA Title VI as ICTT mill number 23024. Our six ASTM D6007 chamber tests ran from April 2025 to June 2026 on 9, 15 and 18 mm panels, three by Shanghai Hongjun and three by ICTT Vietnam. They averaged 0.014–0.032 ppm against that CARB Phase 2 / TSCA Title VI limit.

A quote that says “E0 glue” with no test behind it tells you little. Ask for the certificate number and a recent result for the product line, and compare them across quotes.

Real thickness and tolerance: how much is the missing millimetre worth?

The thickness on a quote is nominal unless a tolerance is written next to it. A panel quoted at 18 mm and delivered at 17 mm contains about 5.6% less wood, and the buyer pays for the full 18 mm.

Tolerances by product line, as we build them:

The price of a tight tolerance is calibration: sanding the core board and the finished panel to an even thickness. A furniture plant running CNC and edge banding pays for it many times over in fewer rejects.

How is the volume calculated on a quote?

Volume per sheet is length × width × thickness. For a 1220 × 2440 × 18 mm sheet that is about 0.0536 m³. Check two things on every quote:

• The thickness used in the calculation is the nominal 18 mm, and the panel is delivered within the tolerance.
• Both quotes use the same method, so a price per cubic metre means the same amount of panel.

A quote priced per cubic metre on a panel that arrives thin charges you for wood you never receive.

How do face veneer and grade change the price?

The face is what the end customer sees, and its species, thickness and grade move the price. Two quotes that both say “B/B” may use different face species, different veneer thicknesses and different grading habits.

What to compare:

• Face and back species: poplar, eucalyptus, birch, okoume, pine or engineered veneer.
• Face and back grades: written as a pair, for example A/B or B/B, and fixed by an approved sample.
• Face veneer thickness: a thicker face survives sanding and finishing better; ask for it in tenths of a millimetre.
• Grade codes: buyers order poplar faces by the Chinese codes B/BB, BB/CC and CP, which map onto the same A/B ladder; birch faces are graded D+, D and E in Vietnam.

Grades differ from mill to mill. The only reliable comparison is two samples side by side under the same light.

Does sanding and finishing show up in the quote?

Sanding is a production step with its own cost, and quotes often leave it unstated. An unsanded panel costs less; a calibrated, sanded panel is ready for finishing.

• Unsanded: normal for packing and some commercial uses.
• Sanded: one or both faces sanded smooth.
• Calibrated: sanded to a tight, even thickness, the standard for furniture.
• Polished or UV-ready: both faces prepared for the buyer’s own UV coating.

A furniture buyer who receives unsanded panels pays twice: once for the panel and again for sanding in their own plant, if their line can do it.

What does the moisture line tell you?

Moisture at dispatch shows how well the veneers and panels were dried. Our veneers and finished panels leave at 8–12% moisture content, the normal range for furniture plywood. A quote without a moisture line leaves room for panels that move, warp or show glue problems once they dry out in a heated European warehouse. Ask for the range in writing and check it on samples and on arrival.

Packing: how many sheets per pack, and what protects them?

Packing decides how the panels arrive and how many fit in the container. Two quotes with the same price per cubic metre can differ by the pallet, the covers and the number of sheets per pack.

Packs are about a metre high, so the number of sheets per pack depends on the thickness: 55 sheets of 18 mm panels in one pack. The pack count per container then depends on the core weight.

A container packed beyond its limit can break pack bases and leave the receiver unloading by hand. Ask for the load plan with the quote.

How do you compare quotes for a mixed container?

A mixed container carries several thicknesses, face grades or products in whole packs. Compare it line by line, not by the total.

1. Ask for a price per line, with sheets, packs and cubic metres for each.
2. Check the load plan: thin panels mean more sheets per pack, heavy cores mean fewer packs per container.
3. Check the weight: a mix that is heavy on thick eucalyptus panels can reach the payload before the container is full.
4. Compare each line with the same line on the other quotes.

At Minh Thanh Plywood one 40HC can carry several specifications by agreement, which suits a trial order or a buyer who needs several thicknesses each month.

How do you compare quotes on different Incoterms?

Quotes on FOB, CFR and CIF are not comparable until you bring them to one basis. The cleanest way is to convert all of them to the cost at your warehouse door.

Ask your forwarder for the freight and destination charges per container, divide by the cubic metres in each quote’s container, and add them. A heavier core carries more freight per cubic metre, which a FOB-only comparison hides.

Why does CIF sometimes cost more than it looks?

A CIF price includes freight booked by the seller, and the destination charges the carrier’s agent then bills you can be higher than with your own forwarder. Compare a CIF quote with your own FOB-plus-freight figure before choosing it.

What does a landed-cost comparison look like?

Bring each quote to the same delivered cost per cubic metre in four steps:

1. Start from the FOB price per cubic metre, or take the freight and insurance out of a CIF price using your forwarder’s figures.
2. Add the sea freight and insurance per container, divided by that quote’s cubic metres per container.
3. Add destination charges, duty and inland transport, divided the same way.
4. Compare the delivered cost per cubic metre, then per sheet.

The quote with the lowest FOB price is not always the lowest delivered, because a heavier core or a lighter load spreads the same freight over fewer cubic metres.

What do payment terms and lead time add to a quote?

Payment terms carry risk, and risk has a cost. A quote that asks for full payment before production looks lower on paper and more expensive if anything goes wrong.

Lead time matters too. Our production runs 15–45 days after the 30% deposit. A quote with a much shorter lead time for a furniture-grade panel deserves a question about where the stock comes from.

How do you compare a factory quote with a trading company quote?

Compare the build first, then the seller. A trading company adds its margin to the mill’s price, but a trader’s quote can still be lower when it describes a lower-cost panel.

1. Put both quotes on the comparison sheet and fill every blank.
2. Ask the trader which mill presses each line, and whether the certificates are that mill’s.
3. Compare like with like: when the builds match, the factory price has one margin fewer.
4. Weigh the service: a trader can combine plywood, MDF and other products on one invoice.

Our guide on telling a factory from a trading company shows how to check which one you are dealing with.

Which differences matter for your use?

Not every line matters equally for every buyer. Decide which differences you will pay for before reading the totals.

A buyer who knows the use can accept a lower-cost build where it does no harm, and refuse a lower-cost build where it does.

Which quote wins in the side-by-side example?

Back to the two quotes for 18 mm commercial plywood. Once Quote B’s blanks were filled, the verdict depended on the use.

• For a merchant selling general-purpose panels, Quote A wins. Its eucalyptus AB core, 11–13 plies, MR glue at E1 and ±0.5 mm tolerance give a panel customers come back for. Quote B’s thin, unsanded E2 panel would bring complaints and returns.
• For a crate maker, Quote B can win, provided the real thickness is written into the order and the price is set for a 17 mm panel. Face grade, sanding and emission class matter little in a crate, as long as the importing country accepts the emission class.
• For a furniture plant, neither quote fits. It needs a grade-A core, double pressing, calibrated sanding, UF glue at E0 emission and certification its market accepts, which is a different product with a different price.

The same two quotes can be right or wrong depending on who buys them. That is why the comparison sheet starts with your target column, and why the use comes before the price.

How do you compare emission claims across quotes?

Put the glue type and the emission class on separate rows, and add a third row for the proof: certificate number, issuer and the date of the latest test. A claim without proof scores as a blank. When two quotes both show proof, compare the test results for the product line and thickness you are buying, not a result for another product.

What should you check on a plywood proforma invoice?

The proforma invoice is where the quote becomes an order, and it is the document your deposit pays against. Check it line by line before paying.

1. Seller: the registered company name, matching Vietnam’s National Business Registration Portal.
2. Bank account: in the same company’s name; any later change confirmed by phone on a number you already hold.
3. Each line’s full specification: size, thickness and tolerance, core, plies, glue, emission class, face and back grades, sanding, moisture.
4. Quantities: sheets and cubic metres per line, and the total.
5. Unit price, currency and total.
6. Incoterm and named port.
7. Payment terms: deposit and balance, with the trigger for the balance.
8. Shipment window: production time after deposit and the latest shipment date.
9. Packing and marks.
10. Documents to be supplied: invoice, packing list, B/L, certificate of origin, and any emission, FSC or EUDR papers.
11. Approved sample reference: the label of the signed sample.
12. Validity: the date after which the price must be confirmed again.

Any line that differs from the quote you chose is a change. Ask why before paying.

What goes into the sales contract after the proforma?

For a first order, a short sales contract adds the clauses a proforma invoice usually leaves out. They cost nothing to write and save weeks if something goes wrong.

• Inspection: who inspects, when, against which sample, and what happens on failure.
• Tolerances and acceptance: the measurements that decide whether goods conform.
• Claims: how soon a claim must be raised after arrival, the evidence it needs, and the remedies.
• Delay: what happens if shipment is late.
• Force majeure and governing law.
• Documents for your market: EUDR dossier for the EU from 30 December 2026 (30 June 2027 for smaller operators not under the EUTR), emission certificates, declarations of performance where CE applies.

Our guide on plywood quality claims explains how to write the claim clause.

Plywood quotation guide: units, currency, validity and price changes

This plywood quotation guide would be incomplete without the small print, because the units, the currency and the validity date change what a price means. Two quotes can name the same number and still cost you different amounts.

How do you convert a price per cubic metre into a price per sheet?

Multiply the price per cubic metre by the volume of one sheet. For a 1220 × 2440 × 18 mm sheet the volume is about 0.0536 m³, so the price per sheet is the price per cubic metre times 0.0536. Do the same for every thickness on the order, and you can compare a per-sheet quote with a per-cubic-metre one on the same basis.

Why do plywood prices change between quote and order?

Plywood is priced from veneer, glue, energy and labour, and veneer prices move with log supply. A mill that holds its quote for a short validity is being honest about that. Confirm the price on the proforma invoice, and pay the deposit only against the confirmed figure.

How do you negotiate once the quotes are comparable?

Negotiation works only after every quote describes the same build. Then the conversation is about real differences, not about missing information.

1. Share the build, not the competitor’s price: tell each mill the specification you have chosen and ask for its best offer on that build.
2. Trade specification for price where the use allows: a lower face grade on the back, a looser tolerance for packing panels, a different core species.
3. Trade volume for price: a schedule of repeat containers is worth more to a mill than one order.
4. Trade terms for price: a letter of credit or a faster balance payment lowers the mill’s risk.
5. Keep quality lines fixed: core grade, glue, emission class and tolerance are the lines that cause claims when they slip.
6. Put the agreed build on the proforma before the deposit, unchanged.

A mill that lowers its price without changing anything in writing may be planning to change the panel instead. Ask what changes when the price falls.

What is a fair margin between quotes?

When two quotes describe the same written build from verified mills, the difference is usually small: margins, efficiency and how full each mill’s order book is. A large gap on the same build is a question, not a bargain. Sample both and measure them against their quotes before choosing.

Red flags in a plywood quotation

Some quotes tell you more by what they leave out than by what they say. These signs deserve a question before you go further.

Our guide on how to avoid scams when buying plywood from Vietnam covers the fraud side in depth.

How does Minh Thanh Plywood write a quotation?

We write every quote so that it can be compared line by line. Each line states the build, the packing and the terms, and the price applies to that build only.

Send us your specification through the furniture plywood page, or fill in our RFQ checklist, and we will reply with a written quote you can put next to any other.