How to import tea from India: a practical guide for first-time buyers

Two bodies matter on the Indian side. The Tea Board of India, under the Ministry of Commerce, licenses tea exporters and oversees the trade; a supplier who exports directly should be able to show their Tea Board exporter registration. The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) licenses anyone who blends or packs food, tea included — Narsibapa Tea, for example, packs at an FSSAI-registered facility in Morbi, Gujarat.

Every Indian exporter also needs an Importer-Exporter Code (IEC) and a GST registration. If a supplier cannot quote these, they are a trader routing your order through someone else — not necessarily a problem, but you should know who is actually shipping. Also check your own country’s food import rules early: importer registration, labelling language, residue limits.

A tea shipment from India normally travels with a standard document set. Confirm the list with your customs broker before the first order so nothing is missing when the container arrives.

• Commercial invoice and packing list — quantities, net and gross weights, blend names, carton or sack counts.
• Bill of lading (sea) or air waybill (air) — issued by the carrier; originals are usually released against payment.
• Certificate of origin — from an authorised chamber of commerce; needed for preferential duty in many markets.
• Phytosanitary certificate — from India’s Plant Quarantine authority after inspection; most destinations require it.
• Certificate of analysis — moisture and other parameters on request, from the supplier or an independent laboratory.
• Fumigation, health or free-sale certificates — where your destination requires them; obtainable on request.
• Tea Board export documentation — the exporter’s registration details and any permit the destination asks for.

Incoterms define where the supplier’s responsibility ends and yours begins. For tea from Gujarat you will meet three: EXW (you collect from the factory in Morbi and handle everything), FOB Mundra or Kandla (the supplier clears export and loads your nominated vessel; you pay freight and insurance), and CIF or CFR to your port (the supplier arranges and pays ocean freight, plus insurance under CIF; you handle import clearance and delivery).

First-time buyers usually prefer CIF because the supplier handles the Indian side end to end. Importers with their own forwarders often prefer FOB for better freight rates. Either way, name the Incoterm and port in writing on the pro forma invoice.

Payment is where trust is built. The two common structures are a bank transfer (T/T) with part of the value in advance and the balance against a copy of the shipping documents, and an irrevocable letter of credit (LC) opened by your bank, which pays the supplier against compliant documents. An LC costs more in fees and paperwork but protects both sides on a first large order.

For a trial order, a part-advance T/T is the usual practice across the trade; exact splits are agreed per deal. Narsibapa quotes payment terms on enquiry, together with the price and Incoterm, so there are no surprises later.

This is how most tea import relationships start, and it is designed so that you never pay for tea you have not tasted.

• 1. Brief the supplier — your market, how the tea is drunk (milk, sugar, plain), target strength and pack format.
• 2. Samples — the supplier couriers two or three blend options. Brew them the way your customers do and pick one.
• 3. Pro forma invoice — price, quantity, blend, packing, Incoterm, port, payment terms and validity.
• 4. Advance and production — the blend is made to the approved sample and packed in sacks or retail packs.
• 5. Pre-shipment sample — drawn from the production lot for your approval before it is sealed for export.
• 6. Shipment and documents — container loaded, documents issued, balance paid, originals released.
• 7. Trial container — a first full or part-container (LCL) lets you test the market before committing to volume.

Tea from Gujarat ships from Mundra or Kandla, both on the Gulf of Kutch and a few hours by road from Morbi. Mundra is one of India’s largest container ports, with direct services to the Gulf, East Africa, the Mediterranean and beyond.

A 20-foot container holds roughly 10 to 12 tonnes of CTC in sacks (typical; it depends on grade density and packing); retail cartons load by volume. Smaller quantities move as LCL or, for urgent samples, by air. Indicative sea transit from Mundra: the Gulf in about a week, East Africa in two to three weeks, Europe, the Black Sea and East Asia in roughly three to five weeks. Confirm schedules with your forwarder.

Typical, not guaranteed: one to two weeks for samples to reach you and be evaluated; a week to agree the pro forma and payment; two to four weeks for production, packing and documents (printed private-label packs take longer than plain sacks); then transit. Plan on two to three months from first message to tea on your warehouse floor, and much less on repeat orders.

The fastest way to compress that is a clear brief on day one: your market, your format and your port — and ask for samples straight away.