Bilateral and Multilateral Contracts
Bilateral contract is defined as to purchase & sell certain quantities of a commodity at the agreed upon prices may be entered into between the major importer & exporter of the commodity. In such an agreement an upper price & a lower price are specified. If the market price throughout the period of the agreement remains within these specified limits then the agreement becomes operative. while, if the market price rises above the upper limit specified then the exporting country is obliged to sell the importing country a certain specified quantity of the commodity at the upper price fixed by the agreement. Other hand, if the market price falls below the lower limit specified and the importer is obliged to purchase the contracted quantity at the specified lower price.
Thus kind of international sale & purchase contracts may also be entered into by two and more exporters and importers. The bilateral and multilateral agreements are usually concluded between the major supplier(a) and the major importer(b) of the commodities.