Specification
Grade and quality caps
Suta grade from the ladder, plus the broken percentage and moisture you want certified on the lab report.
Pricing
What Makhana Actually Costs, and Why
We cannot publish one price per kilogram honestly — it moves with grade, volume, packing, Incoterm and the crop year. What we can publish is the cost structure, so you can read any supplier's quote properly, including ours.
- Five variables set the number
- Container cubes out before it weighs out
- EXW, FOB and CIF are not comparable
- Priced offer in 24–48 business hours
The five things that set your price
Get these on the enquiry and any two quotes become comparable. Leave them off and you are comparing different products.
1. Suta grade
The single biggest lever. Suta measures the popped kernel diameter, and higher grades are scarcer — a quintal of raw seed yields only a limited share of large, unbroken, uniformly white pops. Every step up the ladder narrows the pool and raises the price. Buying above your channel's requirement is the most common way importers overpay. Milling and coated-snack applications do not need a gifting grade.
A note on names
Quotes reach us under four different names for the same product, and buyers comparing them often think they are pricing different goods. Makhana, phool makhana, fox nuts and popped lotus seeds are the same kernel. A fox nut price per kg, a phool makhana wholesale price and a raw makhana price are the same enquiry in different words — what separates them is grade, not nomenclature.
2. Volume and commitment
Not just the size of one order, but whether it repeats. A contracted monthly or quarterly volume against a fixed specification prices better than the same total tonnage bought opportunistically, because it lets us buy raw lots against your spec at harvest instead of from the open market later.
3. Packing format
A bare woven sack, a food-grade lined sack, a lined sack inside a five-ply export carton and a printed retail pouch are four different costs. Printed film for private label carries its own minimum — currently 1,000–5,000 units per SKU depending on pack format — which is set by the printer, not by us. Nitrogen flushing adds cost and adds shelf life.
4. Incoterm
EXW, FOB and CIF are three different numbers for the same goods. An EXW quote will always look cheapest and always excludes the most. Inland haulage to port, customs clearance, documentation, terminal handling, ocean freight and insurance all sit somewhere — the Incoterm just decides on whose side of the invoice.
5. Crop year and season
Raw gorgon nut is harvested July to September. Raw material cost is at its lowest just after harvest and rises through the year as stock depletes, so the same grade genuinely costs differently in October and in May. Buyers with predictable annual demand often contract shortly after harvest to fix their cost base.
Why per-kilogram comparison misleads on makhana
The product is unusually light, and that changes the freight arithmetic.
| Container | Realistic payload | What limits it |
|---|---|---|
| 20ft standard | 6–8 MT | Volume, not weight — it cubes out first |
| 40ft high cube | 14–16 MT | Volume, not weight |
| Air freight | 500 kg practical minimum | Chargeable weight is volumetric |
Because makhana fills a container long before it reaches the weight limit, the per-kilo freight component is higher than for a dense commodity and does not fall much with a larger box. Buyers who assume "a full container will halve my landed cost" are usually disappointed. Compression into cartons rather than loose sacks improves payload per TEU and is often the better lever on freight-sensitive routes.
Price behaviour by grade
Indicative direction, not a quotation — the ladder tells you where your channel should sit.
| Grade | Diameter | Relative price | Typical channel |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4 Suta | 14–16 mm | Lowest | Food manufacturing, milling, coated snacks, bulk catering |
| 5 Suta | 16–18 mm | Low | Value retail packs, trail mixes, roasted snack lines |
| 6 Suta | 18–20 mm | Mid | Mainstream retail, supermarket private label, HORECA |
| 6+ Suta / Jumbo | 20–22 mm | High | Premium retail, flavoured snack brands, e-commerce |
| Handpicked Premium | 22 mm and above | Highest | Gifting, luxury retail, duty free, airline and hospitality |
What to send for a priced offer
Quantity
Volume and frequency
Trial quantity and the monthly or quarterly volume you expect afterwards. Repeat commitment prices better than a one-off.
Packing
Format and branding
Sack weight and liner, carton or bare, or retail pouch with your artwork for private label runs.
Delivery
Port and Incoterm
Discharge port and whether you want EXW, FOB Nhava Sheva or Kolkata, or CIF to your port.
Makhana pricing — buyer questions
What is the wholesale price of makhana per kg for export?
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There is no single per-kg figure, and any supplier quoting one before asking your grade and volume is guessing. Price is set by suta grade, order quantity, packing format, Incoterm and the crop year. A 4 Suta lot destined for milling and a Handpicked Premium gifting lot can differ by a multiple, not a margin. Send grade, monthly volume, packing and destination port and we return a priced offer within 24–48 business hours.
Why do makhana quotes vary so much between suppliers?
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Usually because they are not quoting the same thing. Differences hide in grade (a supplier may quote 4 Suta against your 6 Suta enquiry), broken percentage, moisture at dispatch, packing (bare sack versus lined and cartoned), and Incoterm (EXW looks cheapest and excludes everything). Put all five on the enquiry and the quotes become comparable.
Does buying a full container reduce the price per kg?
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Yes, but less than most buyers expect, because makhana is extremely light. A 20ft container holds only 6–8 MT and a 40ft high cube 14–16 MT — it cubes out long before it weighs out. That caps the freight saving per kilo. The larger savings come from committing to repeat volume against a contracted grade, not from a single bigger box.
What is the minimum order and does a trial order cost more per kg?
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The practical minimum is 500 kg for a single grade by air, or one container load by sea. A first trial shipment does carry a higher per-kg cost, mostly from air freight and the sampling round rather than from the product. That premium disappears on the first sea consignment.
Are makhana prices seasonal?
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Yes. Raw gorgon nut is harvested between July and September and popped through the following months, so raw material cost is lowest just after harvest and climbs through the year as stock depletes. Buyers with predictable annual volume often contract just after harvest to fix cost for the year.
Do you quote EXW, FOB or CIF?
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All three. EXW is the factory gate and excludes inland transport, customs and freight. FOB covers everything to the vessel at Nhava Sheva or Kolkata. CIF adds ocean freight and insurance to your discharge port. Compare quotes on the same Incoterm — an EXW price beside a CIF price is not a comparison.
Everything a buyer usually asks
Short, direct answers to the questions we get most often from importers, distributors and brand owners.
What is your minimum order quantity (MOQ)?
For loose bulk makhana the practical minimum is 500 kg for air freight and one container load for sea freight — around 6–8 MT in a 20ft container and 14–16 MT in a 40ft high cube, since makhana is very light and cubes out before it weighs out. For private label retail packs the MOQ is 1,000–5,000 units per SKU depending on pack format, driven by the printed-film minimum rather than by us. First-time buyers can start with a smaller trial shipment while a relationship is being established.
How do you pack makhana for export?
Bulk shipments go into food-grade laminated or PP bags with an inner LDPE liner, usually 10 kg or 20 kg per bag, palletised and strapped. Because makhana absorbs moisture, we dry to 5–7% moisture and can add nitrogen flushing or vacuum packing when the transit is long or the destination is humid. Retail packs are made in metallised or transparent laminate pouches from 20 g to 500 g, with zip-lock, stand-up or pillow formats, printed to your artwork with your market's mandatory labelling already in place.
How does the export process actually work?
It is eight stages — inquiry, sampling, quotation, production, inspection, documentation, shipping, delivery — and takes four to six weeks from first email to vessel departure. You send us your requirement and we reply within 24-48 hours with a quotation and specification sheet. Reference samples reach you in 3–5 working days by courier. You confirm with a purchase order and advance or letter of credit, and the lot is processed, graded and packed at the contracted unit. Moisture, size and broken percentage are verified before stuffing, with third-party inspection on request. We then prepare the full document set in-house, book the container, complete customs, and share tracking with your clearing agent, couriering documents ahead of arrival.
Get a priced offer against your specification
Share grade, volume, packing and destination port. Our export desk replies within 24–48 business hours with pricing, a specification sheet and a shipping schedule. Samples reach you in 3–5 working days.