From soil to shipment, in eight stages.

Most spices have a home. Black pepper and cardamom come from the wet hills of the Western Ghats in Kerala, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. Turmeric is traded out of Erode, Salem, Nizamabad and Sangli. Red chilli centres on Guntur and Byadgi. Cumin, coriander and fenugreek come from the dry fields of Gujarat, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh.

Basmati comes from the plains of Punjab and Haryana, and ponni from the Kaveri delta around Thanjavur. Pulses grow across the Deccan and central India, with Maharashtra, Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh supplying much of the toor. Big onions come largely from Nashik in Maharashtra, small onions from Tamil Nadu.

Each product page lists the regions it is typically sourced from. For a specific lot, ask for its origin when you request a quote.

Harvests follow the season, and so does price. Pepper in Kerala is picked from around December into February. Cardamom is picked in rounds from late monsoon into winter. Turmeric is lifted from January to March, chilli through the winter into spring, and cumin in February and March.

Basmati is harvested in October and November, and the delta's main ponni crop around January. Pulses are rabi or kharif crops, and onions come in more than one crop a year, so availability and quality shift through the year. If timing matters for your market, say so early.

Pepper is spread on drying yards for several days and turns from green to black as it dries. Turmeric is boiled before drying, which sets its colour. Chillies are dried whole, often on the field. Cardamom is the exception: it is cured in heated drying houses so the pods keep their green. Paddy is dried before milling, and parboiled first for boiled rice. Onions are cured until the skins are dry and the necks close.

Drying decides how well a crop survives the journey, by sea or air. Moisture is brought down to the limit the contract sets, commonly around 11 to 12 percent for pepper and about 14 percent for rice.

Cleaning takes out stones, stalks, dust and light or broken grains, by sieving, destoning, gravity separation and, for many seed spices, rice and pulses, a sortex colour sorter.

Grading follows the conventions of each crop: pepper by bulk density in grams per litre, cardamom by pod size in millimetres, chilli by variety and whether the stem is on, rice by grain length and broken percentage, pulses by size and polish, onions by bulb diameter.

A quote is only as good as the specification it is made against. Send the one you buy to: moisture, extraneous matter, grade, and any product-specific values such as colour value for chilli, curcumin for turmeric, volatile oil for pepper and cardamom, grain length and broken percentage for rice, grain size for pulses or bulb size for onions.

If your market needs laboratory reports, for example on pesticide residues, aflatoxin or microbiology, mention it with the inquiry. Testing affects both lead time and price.

Most spices, rice and pulses travel in PP woven or jute bags of 25 or 50 kg, and rice can also be packed in smaller consumer packs. Cardamom goes in cartons with poly liners to protect colour and aroma. Onions go in mesh bags so they can breathe.

Bag marking follows your instructions: product, grade, lot, net and gross weight, origin, and your brand if you are buying under private label.

Larger orders are quoted by the 20 ft or 40 ft container and go by sea; smaller ones by the tonne or by the bag. How much fits depends on the product and bag size, so the quote states the loadable quantity.

Air cargo suits samples, smaller lots and urgent orders. It is quoted by the kilogram, from Chennai or another nearby international airport, and reaches most destinations in days rather than weeks.

Some destinations require fumigation or particular treatment before loading, and onions need ventilated or temperature-controlled containers. Name your destination early so these are included.

An export shipment travels with its paperwork: commercial invoice, packing list, bill of lading (or air waybill for air cargo), certificate of origin and, for most agricultural goods, a phytosanitary certificate. Your importer may need others.

Tell us the port or airport of destination and which documents your importer needs, and they are prepared alongside the shipment.