Advice from Bradford-based trade experts has hit the right notes for a novice exporter which has landed a major deal with China.

International trade support specialists at Chamber International have been contracted to provide continuing help to the UK’s only piano maker after it secured the £1.75 million Chinese order.

CI’s export office team will help Yorkshire Pianos at Bolton Abbey, a craftsman co-operative, which has won a five-year contract to supply 500 Cavendish pianos to a Chinese wholesaler.

Chamber International helps exporters by advising on sales quotation content, liaising with freight forwarders and insurers and presenting accurate documents to the importer’s bank for payment.

It ensures faster export payments, reduces questions and rejections from banks and frees exporting companies’ time.

Adam Cox, Yorkshire Pianos managing director, who is a qualified piano technician, said: : “We visited Shanghai International Music Fair last year and made initial contact with Shanghai Musical Instruments Ltd. We met again at Frankfurt Music Fair, facilitated by the Music Industries Association, and struck the deal to supply them with 100 pianos a year for the next five years.

“While at Shanghai Music Fair we were intrigued to see several Chinese manufacturers have acquired English piano names and claim an ‘English Heritage’, complete with pictures of The Queen, double decker buses and full-size models of red telephone boxes at their trade stands. Pianos are seen as quintessentially British and the rise of a monied upper class in China means there is a ready market for high-quality imported goods, which is how we came to secure the order.

“The letter of credit method of payment chosen by our customers proved far more complex than expected with regard to the volume of paperwork and terms, conditions and practices which were new to us.

“Our bank was helpful but could only offer a degree of advice.

“We contacted Chamber International which took an active and astute interest in our business. They are now acting as intermediaries with our shippers and are taking care of all the paperwork so we can avoid any potential pitfalls. We could not have succeeded without Chamber International’s help.”

Yorkshire Pianos was founded in 1994 as Headingley Pianos and has six staff. It currently has a £500,000 annual turnover.

Chamber International, which also runs an export network as part of Leeds city region Local Enterprise Partnership’s ‘We are International’ campaign, helps hundreds of new and experienced exporters with a wide range of specialist services to make exporting easier and more cost effective .

The organisation is exclusively partnered with London-based global testing organization Intertie, to assist with a wide range of issues including product conformity.