São Paulo is where much of Brazil's food industry and spice trade is concentrated, so a large share of the Indian dehydrated onion and garlic that Brazil imports ends up being blended, repacked or processed in and around the city. Almost all of it arrives through the port of Santos, about 70 kilometres away down the Serra do Mar. This guide covers what is specific to buying for São Paulo. For the national rules, read importing dehydrated onion and garlic into Brazil.
Santos and the climb to the plateau
Santos is the busiest container port in Latin America. Containers from Mundra or Nhava Sheva are discharged there, cleared by Receita Federal and, where your product is under agricultural control, by the Vigiagro unit at the port. They then travel up the Anchieta or Imigrantes highway to warehouses in greater São Paulo, or to bonded terminals inland if your broker clears there instead.
Ask your broker early where clearance will happen. Port terminals in Santos can be congested, and storage charges build quickly if a licence or a document is not ready when the container lands.
Who buys in São Paulo
The city and the state host a wide range of food makers that use dried alliums:
- Seasoning and tempero makers, who use onion and garlic powder and granules in salt-based blends, a staple of Brazilian home cooking.
- Meat processors making sausages, hams and marinated cuts, who often prefer minced or granulated garlic.
- Snack, soup and instant noodle producers, who need fine powder with tight microbiology.
- Wholesalers in the Zona Cerealista, the traditional grains and spices district near the Mercado Municipal, who repack for shops and restaurants.
A diverse kitchen
São Paulo has large Italian, Lebanese and Japanese communities, among others, and its restaurant trade reflects that. Food service distributors therefore ask for a spread of forms in one shipment: kibbled onion for sauces, fried onion for toppings and garlic granules for grills. If you want to mix forms, read mixing onion and garlic forms in one container.
Heat, humidity and storage
Santos is hot and humid for much of the year, and São Paulo's summer brings heavy rain. Onion and garlic powder pick up moisture fast once a bag is opened or a liner is damaged, which leads to caking and higher microbial counts. Specify double liners, check bags on arrival, and store on pallets away from walls. See how to stop onion powder caking and shelf life of dehydrated onion and garlic.
Labels and testing
If you repack into retail units for São Paulo supermarkets, labels must be in Portuguese and follow ANVISA rules. Your customers will also ask for pesticide results against Brazilian limits, not only EU limits, and for ETO and salmonella results per lot. See why 2-chloroethanol is tested.
Other Brazilian city
If you also supply the south, read our guide for Curitiba, which receives its goods through Paranaguá rather than Santos.
How Creston helps
We audit the plants that make dehydrated onion and dehydrated garlic, have each lot tested at an NABL-accredited laboratory against Brazilian limits, supervise loading and check the documents before departure, for one written fee agreed in advance. You buy directly from the plant. To plan your next Santos shipment, book a free sourcing review.