Indian dehydration plants usually sell dehydrated onion by the pallet or the full container, with a higher minimum for custom sizes or colour grades. If one product does not fill a container, you can mix several onion and garlic forms in one, and if you buy every year, you can book a season's volume when the new crop arrives and call off shipments over the following months.
This guide explains how minimums are set, how to build a mixed container, and how booking ahead works in practice.
How plants set a minimum order
Dehydrated onion is made on large belt dryers and milled in batches. A plant's minimum reflects what it costs to change a line, clean it and pack a run. A standard grade the plant makes every week may be available by the pallet from stock. A special mesh, a tight colour grade or steam sterilisation interrupts the line, so expect a larger minimum. Our article on minimum order quantity for spices, dehydrated onion and psyllium covers the general picture.
- Standard flakes, kibbled or powder from stock: often a pallet or more.
- Custom particle size or colour grade: usually a dedicated run.
- Steam-sterilised product: a minimum set by the treatment batch.
- Your own printed packaging: a minimum set by the print run, not the onion.
How much fits in a container
Weight per container depends on the form. Large flakes are bulky and fill a 20 ft container well under its weight limit, often below 10 tonnes, while powder and granules can reach the low to mid teens. These are rough figures only; ask the plant for its last actual loading of the same form and pack. Buyers of flakes and kibbled onion often move to a 40 ft container, which gives about twice the space for a freight cost that is usually well under twice as much. See how many tonnes of dehydrated onion fit in a 20 ft container.
Building a mixed container
Mixing is common from Mahuva, where many plants make several onion and garlic forms. Mixing light forms such as flakes with dense forms such as powder uses both the space and the weight allowance. It also lets you trial a new form without committing a full container to it.
- Agree a minimum per line before you plan the mix.
- Give every line its own lot number, certificate of analysis and lab report.
- Ask which items the plant makes itself and which it buys in, and check those too.
- Mark cartons clearly and load each product together, heavier cartons at the bottom.
- Show every line separately on the invoice and packing list, with its own customs code. The HS and HSN code guide explains the codes for onion and garlic.
Less than a container
If your volume is only a few pallets, you can ship less than a container load by sea, or combine goods from more than one supplier through a consolidator. Both add handling and some risk of delay or damage, and dehydrated onion needs dry, clean handling. Read can I buy less than a full container of spices and consolidating several suppliers into one container before you decide.
Booking ahead
Gujarat plants process most of their onion in the first months of the calendar year, when late kharif and rabi white onion arrives, and build flake stock that is milled through the year. Booking before or during that period gives the widest choice of plants and grades. Many regular buyers book a large part of their annual need then and call off shipments month by month. See the onion harvest season for dehydration in Gujarat.
Put the booking in writing: total quantity, spec, the price basis and how long it holds, the call-off schedule, how each lot will be sampled and tested, and what happens if a lot fails or a crop is poor. Fresh onion prices and export policy can change quickly, so read how forward and seasonal price booking works and our monthly market update on what moves prices.
Testing at volume
A large booking is many lots, not one. Test each lot before it ships for moisture, microbiology, ETO and residues against your market's limits, and keep the lot numbers consistent from carton to lab report to invoice. A booking that ships three months after the first lot can come from older stock, so ask for the manufacturing date on every lot.
How Creston & Co helps
We ask plants what minimum they will accept for your volume, plan mixed containers with you, help you write the booking terms, and test every lot at an NABL-accredited lab before it ships. We supervise loading against the plan and check the documents, for one written fee agreed in advance. See dehydrated onion and dehydrated garlic, or book a free sourcing review.