Dried red chilli (Capsicum annuum) varieties for export include Teja (70,000 to 90,000 SHU), Sannam S4 (35,000 to 45,000 SHU), Byadgi (low pungency, high color), and Wonder Hot (80,000 to 100,000 plus SHU). Origins span Indian Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, and Pakistani Sindh and South Punjab. MOQ is one 20-foot FCL at 12 to 15 metric tons. FOB pricing runs 2.20 to 5.50 USD per kilogram.
Capsicum annuum — the commercial dried chilli landscape
Capsicum annuum is the species that supplies essentially all of the global dried-red-chilli export trade. The species covers a wide spectrum of pungency, color, and pod size that maps onto distinct commercial varieties. The dried-chilli trade is organized not by botanical species but by named varieties, each with its own cultivation belt, pungency band, color value, and end-use channel.
Three Indian states and the bordering Pakistani regions produce roughly 70 percent of global dried red chilli supply per FAOSTAT chillies and peppers production data. India alone produces 1.8 to 2.2 million tons of dried red chilli annually, with roughly 35 to 45 percent moving into the export channel. Pakistan adds another 150,000 to 250,000 tons; Pakistani export volumes are smaller and mostly serve the Asian retail diaspora and regional Middle Eastern markets.
For procurement teams, the operating reality is that "Indian chilli" and "Pakistani chilli" are not standalone product categories. The category that matters is the named variety, and within each variety, the specific pungency-color-format combination that matches the end-use need.
Teja — high pungency, Andhra origin
Teja is the workhorse high-pungency variety for the global pepper extract, oleoresin, and bulk-spice channels. Cultivation centers on Khammam district in Telangana, Guntur and Krishna districts in Andhra Pradesh, and the Warangal-Karimnagar belt. The Guntur Mirchi Yard auction sets daily reference pricing for Teja and adjacent varieties.
Pungency: 70,000 to 90,000 Scoville Heat Units (SHU), with capsaicin content typically 0.4 to 0.6 percent on dry weight — measured under ASTA Analytical Methods Method 21.3 / AOAC 995.03.
Color value (ASTA): 40 to 70 — moderate red.
Pod size: 5 to 8 cm long, slender with pointed tip.
End-use channel: oleoresin and capsaicin extraction (largest single demand pull), bulk spice powder for industrial seasoning, hot-sauce blending.
Major industrial buyers of Teja include Synthite Industries (vertically integrated oleoresin), AVT McCormick, Mane Kancor, and the long tail of oleoresin extractors who supply food-flavor industrial customers across Europe, North America, and Asia. FOB Mumbai pricing 2.80 to 3.80 USD per kilogram for whole stemless pods in 2026; oleoresin extraction grade material runs 2.20 to 2.80 USD per kilogram.
Sannam S4 — medium-high pungency, the export workhorse
Sannam S4 (variant of Sannam, ICAR-released hybrid) is the largest single export variety from India. Cultivation centers on the Krishna-Guntur belt in Andhra Pradesh.
Pungency: 35,000 to 45,000 SHU, with capsaicin content 0.18 to 0.28 percent on dry weight.
Color value (ASTA): 60 to 100 — good red depth.
Pod size: 6 to 9 cm long, medium width, blunt tip.
End-use channel: retail spice powder, curry mix manufacturing, Mexican pepper-sauce blending, food-service kitchen supply.
Sannam S4 is the variety most Pakistani buyers see when their distributor advertises "Indian chilli" without further detail. FOB Mumbai pricing 2.50 to 3.50 USD per kilogram stemless in 2026. Pakistani-origin equivalent runs 5 to 10 percent above Indian pricing because of smaller production volumes.
Byadgi — low pungency, deep red color, premium retail
Byadgi (also spelled Byadagi) is the color-leader variety of the Indian chilli portfolio. Cultivation centers on Haveri, Dharwad, and Gadag districts in northern Karnataka. The Byadgi APMC market is the daily price-setter.
Pungency: 8,000 to 15,000 SHU — substantially lower than Teja or Sannam.
Color value (ASTA): 130 to 200+ — deep, intense red. The defining commercial attribute.
Pod size: 10 to 15 cm long, slender, wrinkled surface.
End-use channel: natural food coloring industrial supply (paprika substitute), premium retail Indian-cooking-grade, cosmetic and lipstick coloring formulation.
Byadgi pricing reflects its color-value premium: FOB Mumbai 4.50 to 6.50 USD per kilogram for top-tier color-stable stemless pods. The color-value-per-kilogram is what industrial buyers actually pay for, and a buyer purchasing for natural food coloring will spec the ASTA value tightly (typically 150 ASTA minimum, with each 10-point increment commanding a price premium).
Wonder Hot and Madhya Pradesh varieties — very high pungency
Wonder Hot, Indian-1, and related high-pungency varieties from Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and the eastern Uttar Pradesh belt sit at the top of the pungency scale.
Pungency: 80,000 to 100,000+ SHU, with capsaicin content 0.6 to 0.9 percent on dry weight.
Color value (ASTA): 30 to 60 — moderate.
Pod size: variable, typically 4 to 7 cm.
End-use channel: hot-sauce manufacturing, chili-pepper extract for pharmaceutical applications (capsaicin patches, topical analgesics), specialty industrial seasoning.
FOB pricing runs 3.20 to 4.50 USD per kilogram. Smaller production volumes than Teja or Sannam, so spot availability matters more than annual contracting.
Pakistani Sindh and South Punjab production
Pakistani dried-chilli production sits primarily in Sindh (Mirpur Khas, Nawabshah, Khairpur, Sukkur districts) and South Punjab (Multan, Bahawalpur, Rahim Yar Khan districts). The Pakistani crop runs through the Hyderabad and Multan APMC auctions.
The variety mix in Pakistani production is dominated by local landrace and Indian-cross varieties similar to Sannam in pungency band. Pakistani chilli typically carries 30,000 to 50,000 SHU pungency and ASTA 60 to 90 color value, which positions it directly competing with Indian Sannam on the retail and bulk-spice export channels.
Pakistani volumes are smaller (roughly 8 to 12 percent of combined Indian-Pakistani production), so Pakistani pricing tracks Indian within a 5 to 10 percent band. Major export channels for Pakistani chilli include the Middle Eastern retail diaspora supply, regional Indian-cooking-grade retail to the Gulf, and a growing European retail spice channel.
ASTA color value — the price-defining color metric
The American Spice Trade Association (ASTA) color value is the standardized measurement for red-color intensity in dried chilli. The scale runs from below 30 (pale, weak color) to above 200 (deep, intense color). Color value is measured spectrophotometrically on a defined extraction protocol.
Color value matters because it drives end-use price. A Byadgi pod at ASTA 180 commands a price 60 to 80 percent higher than the same pod at ASTA 120. For natural food coloring industrial buyers, color value is the spec line on every PO.
Color degradation over storage is a real concern: chilli held above 65 percent relative humidity loses color value at 5 to 15 ASTA points per month of storage. Origin storage discipline (dry warehousing, controlled humidity, dark conditions) is what separates color-stable supply from color-degraded supply.
Capsaicin content — HPLC-tested for industrial buyers
For oleoresin extractors and capsaicin-industrial buyers, capsaicin content measured by HPLC is the price-defining spec, often referenced alongside or instead of Scoville value. The conversion is roughly 1 percent capsaicin = 160,000 SHU, but in practice each lot is HPLC-tested at origin for guaranteed-content invoicing.
Industrial buyers commonly spec a "guaranteed minimum 0.4 percent capsaicin" or "guaranteed minimum 0.6 percent capsaicin" for Teja and Wonder Hot lots. Lots failing the spec are returned or sold at discount.
EU compliance — aflatoxin, ochratoxin, capsaicin
EU Regulation 1881/2006 sets the binding limits for dried chilli imported into the EU.
Aflatoxin total below 10 micrograms per kilogram, B1 below 5 micrograms per kilogram for non-treated dried spices destined for further processing; stricter at 5 micrograms per kilogram total and 2 micrograms per kilogram B1 for retail-ready spices.
Ochratoxin A below 15 micrograms per kilogram, harmonized in 2023.
Pesticide residue panel under EU Regulation 396/2005 covering 850+ active substances; commonly-checked residues on dried chilli include chlorpyrifos (banned since 2020), profenofos, ethion, and triazophos.
Sudan dyes (Sudan I-IV) — zero tolerance under EU Regulation 178/2002 following the 2003 contamination crisis. Every EU-bound dried chilli shipment requires a Sudan-dye-negative certificate from an internationally recognized lab.
For origin-side suppliers, the implication is a per-shipment lab-testing pack covering aflatoxin, ochratoxin, the EU pesticide residue panel, and Sudan-dye-negative test. Total testing cost runs USD 400 to USD 800 per shipment.
Container math, MOQ, and pricing
Dried chilli is bulky low-density cargo. Container math is constrained.
Whole stemless pods: 12 to 15 metric tons per 20-foot FCL in compressed bales or 25 kg PP bags.
Whole with stem: 8 to 10 metric tons per 20-foot FCL.
Chilli powder: 18 to 22 metric tons per 20-foot FCL in 25 kg paper-laminate bags.
Chilli flakes (crushed): 14 to 17 metric tons per 20-foot FCL.
MOQ tiers as we run them:
- 1 ton sample — minimum lot for variety qualification
- 5 tons — break-even on LCL
- 12 tons+ — full 20-foot FCL of single-variety stemless
- 22 tons+ — full 40-foot FCL of powder or flakes
FOB Mumbai or Karachi pricing (indicative, 2026):
- Teja stemless: 2.80-3.80 USD/kg
- Teja oleoresin grade: 2.20-2.80 USD/kg
- Sannam S4 stemless: 2.50-3.50 USD/kg
- Byadgi stemless top-tier color: 4.50-6.50 USD/kg
- Wonder Hot stemless: 3.20-4.50 USD/kg
- Pakistani Sindh whole: 2.70-3.80 USD/kg
- Chilli powder (variety blend): 3.20-4.50 USD/kg
Documentation set on every shipment
Every dried-chilli container leaves Mumbai or Karachi with the standard export pack plus the chilli-specific items:
- Bill of lading
- Commercial invoice and packing list
- Certificate of Origin
- Phytosanitary certificate (APEDA or Department of Plant Protection)
- Certificate of Analysis (Scoville, ASTA color, moisture, foreign matter, capsaicin HPLC where specified)
- Aflatoxin certificate (separately documented)
- Ochratoxin A certificate (EU-bound)
- Sudan-dye-negative certificate (EU-bound, US-bound)
- Pesticide residue panel certificate (EU MRL panel)
- Fumigation certificate
- Health certificate (PSQCA or FSSAI)
Lead times by destination port
| Destination port | Country | Ocean transit (Mumbai/Karachi) | Typical Incoterm |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jeddah | Saudi Arabia | 7-10 days | CFR / CIF |
| Hamburg | Germany | 21-28 days | CIF / DAP |
| Rotterdam | Netherlands | 21-28 days | CIF / DAP |
| New York | United States | 28-35 days | CIF |
| Long Beach | United States | 28-35 days | CIF |
| Veracruz | Mexico | 32-40 days | CIF |
| Busan | South Korea | 21-26 days | CFR / CIF |
| Tokyo | Japan | 24-28 days | CFR / CIF |
| Manila | Philippines | 14-18 days | CFR |
Demand-side pulls — who buys what variety
Mexican pepper-sauce industry — Sannam S4 and Wonder Hot for industrial hot-sauce manufacturing. Volumes substantial; Mexico is a top-5 importer of Indian dried chilli.
Korean kimchi (gochugaru substitute) — Indian Sannam and Pakistani Sindh chilli serve as cost-effective substitutes for premium Korean gochugaru in industrial kimchi manufacturing. Korean buyers spec ASTA color value above 80.
South Asian diaspora retail — Sannam, Teja, and Pakistani chilli for the substantial Indian, Pakistani, and Bangladeshi retail channels across the Gulf, UK, North America, Australia, and East Africa.
US Sriracha-style hot sauce — Wonder Hot and Teja for the growing hot-sauce manufacturing channel in North America.
Food coloring industrial — Byadgi for natural paprika-substitute coloring in processed food.
Oleoresin extraction — Teja primarily, with Wonder Hot supplementing, for capsaicin and oleoresin industrial extraction.
Competition map — who buyers usually go to
The Indian dried chilli export trade has three tiers. At the top, Synthite Industries (vertically integrated farm-to-oleoresin, USD 350 million revenue), AVT McCormick (joint venture with McCormick, North American export leader), and Mane Kancor (French-headquartered, premium positioning) dominate the industrial extraction channel. Below this, 30 to 50 mid-volume exporters in Andhra-Telangana-Karnataka serve the retail and food-industrial channels. Below that, 150 to 200 small exporters supply the diaspora retail and regional channels.
For procurement teams, the differentiators between credible suppliers and marketplace listings are these:
- Variety verification — a credible supplier can produce APMC auction documentation tying the lot to the named variety and origin district.
- HPLC-verified capsaicin and ASTA color from internationally recognized labs.
- Aflatoxin and Sudan-dye documentation track record — Indian and Pakistani exporters with three to five clean EU shipments have demonstrated regulatory competence.
- Storage discipline — climate-controlled origin warehousing to preserve ASTA color value.
When to buy ahead vs spot
Indian chilli harvest runs December to February, with auctions peaking January-March at the Guntur, Hyderabad, and Byadgi yards. Pakistani harvest runs slightly later, January-March. Pricing for the year stabilizes by April.
For food-industrial and retail buyers with predictable annual demand, annual contracting in March-April secures 5 to 10 percent better pricing than spot. For oleoresin extractors with industrial-formulation needs, spot procurement is the operating mode because end-product capsaicin demand fluctuates with downstream food-flavor industrial cycles.
Trade desk closing note
Dried red chilli is a variety-driven trade where "chilli" alone tells you nothing — Teja, Sannam, Byadgi, Wonder Hot, and Pakistani Sindh each serve different end-use channels with different price economics. We work with named APMC auction relationships in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, and the Pakistani Sindh-Punjab belt, plus origin laboratory partners for HPLC and ASTA testing.
For a quote, send the four RFQ specs (variety, pungency or capsaicin band, ASTA color band, quantity, destination port) to [email protected]. The trade desk replies within one working day with FOB Mumbai or Karachi, CFR your destination, CIF, and DAP options.