How to find UK buyers for Indian spices

Who buys Indian spices in the UK?

Four kinds of business buy Indian spices in the UK: importers that also process and pack, wholesalers and cash-and-carry operators, suppliers to retailers, and ingredient and foodservice buyers. India is already the UK's largest spice supplier, so in cumin and turmeric you compete mainly with other Indian exporters, and in pepper and cardamom with other origins.

HMRC data for 2025 show the UK imported £75.4m (26,995 tonnes) of spices under HS 0904 to 0910 from India: 21.0% of a £359.7m total, ahead of Vietnam (£50.8m) and China (£44.7m). India's share varies sharply by product:

• Whole cumin: 86% of UK imports (£11.2m)
• Turmeric: 74% (£9.3m)
• Ground chilli: 29% (£16.2m), India's largest single product line
• Curry and other spice mixtures (0910 91): 22% (£7.7m)
• Whole cardamom: 7% (£1.2m); whole black pepper: 4% (£1.1m)

The Seasoning and Spice Association represents spice importers, processors and distributors, and Food & Drink Wholesale UK says its members supply more than 400,000 retail and catering businesses.

Who can buy straight from you depends on who can import: that takes a GB EORI number, usually a customs agent and, for most Indian spices, pre-notification on IPAFFS and entry through a designated border control post. Established importers and packers have this; a small grocer usually buys from them. This guide applies the method in how to find UK buyers for Indian exports to spices.

How do you find UK spice importers from trade data?

Search HMRC's free Find UK traders tool by your spice codes, then check each name on Companies House before you contact it. The result is a prospect list to qualify, not a list of buyers.

1. Fix your 8-digit commodity codes on the UK Trade Tariff, for example 09093100 for whole cumin or 09103000 for turmeric, and search chapter 09 as well as each code, because names for rarely imported codes can appear only at chapter level.
2. Check each name on the free Companies House advanced search, using SIC codes 46370 (wholesale of coffee, tea, cocoa and spices), 46380 (other food), 46390 (non-specialised food) or 46170 (food agents), and read filed accounts to judge size.
3. Find a named buyer on the company's website and send a short email covering product, codes, tests and terms.

The general guide explains what Find UK traders can and cannot show, and the UK rules on business email.

Where can you meet UK spice buyers in person?

The main UK event is IFE, the International Food & Drink Event, at ExCeL London from 5 to 7 April 2027, as part of Food, Drink & Hospitality Week. From 2027 the Speciality & Fine Food Fair moves from Olympia in September to the same week at ExCeL.

APEDA ran an India Pavilion at IFE 2026 in which the Spices Board took a stall, so ask the Board early about 2027: its tentative list of international fairs for FY 2026-27 includes no UK event. It does include Food Ingredients Europe in Frankfurt (17 to 19 November 2026) and Gulfood in Dubai (15 to 19 March 2027), where exporters can join the Board's pavilion.

In India, Indusfood, organised by the Trade Promotion Council of India and supported by the Department of Commerce, runs from 8 to 10 January 2027 in Greater Noida and has an Apply as Buyer route to send UK prospects. The World Spice Congress last met in September 2023, and no later edition had been announced as of October 2026.

What will a UK spice buyer ask for before ordering?

A UK buyer will ask for proof that each lot meets Great Britain's food rules before discussing price, because the importer is legally responsible for what it brings in. Expect requests for a specification, lab reports, label artwork, and samples from the lot you will ship.

From 1 January 2026, SI 2025/1162, which applies in England, moved Indian seed spices (HS 0909) and HS 0910 spices, which include ginger, turmeric, curry and spice mixtures, to Annex II of the high-risk food rules. Wales and Scotland make their own regulations, so an importer using a border control post there should confirm the same rules apply. Every consignment now needs an official certificate and a lab report, and 20% are checked at the border. Pesticide residue checks on nutmeg, mace and cardamom rose from 10% to 50%.

Provisional HMRC data show UK spice imports from India fell from £45.7m in January to July 2025 to £30.1m a year later, mostly in these two headings; the cause is unproven.

No Spices Board mapping does not mean no checks: all food entering Great Britain must meet GB maximum residue levels, so check your pesticides on the GB MRL register.

Sudan dyes are not authorised food colours in Great Britain, so any found in chilli, turmeric or curry powder makes the lot non-compliant. For ginger, GB maximum levels are 5 µg/kg for aflatoxin B1 and 10 µg/kg for total aflatoxins (COT statement, citing assimilated Regulation (EC) 1881/2006).

Since 1 January 2024, prepacked food sold in Great Britain must carry a UK address for the food business operator, which for an Indian packer means the UK importer's address. Allergens such as mustard, celery and sesame in a masala must be emphasised.

How does the India-UK trade agreement change spice prices?

For most spices it changes nothing, because cumin, coriander, turmeric, ginger, cardamom, curry, spice mixtures and whole pepper already enter the UK at 0%. The gains are on ground pepper, ground chilli and some mixed seasonings.

The UK-India Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) entered into force on 15 July 2026. Ground chilli and ground black pepper carry a standard UK rate of 4%, suspended to 0% until 30 June 2027; under CETA, qualifying Indian goods stay at 0% after that date. 'Other' sauces, mixed condiments and seasonings under 2103 90 90 89 drop from 6% to 0%, which may help wet masala pastes, but the importer must confirm the classification.

The importer claims preference with your origin declaration from DGFT's Trade Connect; the trade agreement guide explains the claim. CETA cuts duty only. The FSA and Food Standards Scotland advised that no change to UK food safety law was needed, so Annex II controls still apply.

Which Indian bodies help spice exporters reach UK buyers?

The Spices Board is the main body for spice exporters: its registration is compulsory, its laboratories produce the reports behind UK certificates, and it takes exporters to international fairs.

• CRES: the Certificate of Registration as Exporter of Spices is mandatory, is applied for through DGFT's e-RCMC portal and counts as your RCMC. Fees and documents are on the CRES portal.
• Quality Evaluation Laboratories: the Board runs labs in Kochi, Mumbai, Chennai, Guntur, Narela (Delhi), Tuticorin, Kandla, Kolkata and Jodhpur. You book pre-shipment sampling with your CRES login, and the Board facilitates the official certificate on a cleared report.
• SPICED: this Spices Board scheme, which ran from FY 2021-22 to FY 2025-26, funded export promotion programmes such as fairs and buyer-seller meets. Applications closed on 30 September 2026; check whether it continues.

Why do UK spice deals fail?

Deals that look agreed can fall apart over a failed test, a missing document or terms the buyer cannot use, and each can be prevented before the first shipment.

• Lab reports that do not match the lot. Tie every report and certificate to the lot number, and keep counter samples.
• Ethylene oxide fumigation. EtO is not approved for food in the UK, and residues have been reported in Indian sesame, ginger and turmeric (Expert Committee on Pesticide Residues in Food).
• A pesticide with no specific GB maximum residue level for that spice, where a default limit at the lowest level a lab can reliably measure applies, even if the pesticide is legal in India.
• Retail packs without a UK importer address, or with allergens not emphasised.
• DDP quoted without a customs partner. Anyone lodging a UK declaration for someone else must be established in the UK.
• Credit terms beyond the RBI limit. As of October 2026, proceeds must be realised within nine months of shipment, or twelve months for exports invoiced or settled in rupees, under the Foreign Exchange Management (Export and Import of Goods and Services) Regulations, 2026; see how to find UK buyers for Indian exports.
• An Incoterm that does not fit the freight. FOB and CIF suit sea freight only, while DAP and DDP work for air and sea; see DAP vs DDP for India-UK shipments.

What is a short plan to win your first UK spice buyer?

Get compliance right first, then build a qualified prospect list, then meet buyers with samples backed by lab reports.

1. Hold a current IEC, CRES from the Spices Board (which counts as your RCMC) and a GST LUT (checklist).
2. Pick two or three products where India already leads UK imports, such as cumin or turmeric, and fix their commodity codes.
3. Test each lot against the Spices Board's UK mapping and check your pesticides on the GB MRL register.
4. Prepare a specification, lab reports, a label draft with space for the importer's address, and an origin declaration routine on Trade Connect.
5. Build a prospect list from Find UK traders and Companies House, and write to named buyers.
6. Book IFE in April 2027 or a Spices Board pavilion, and send samples from a lot you can ship.
7. Agree the Incoterm, payment terms and UK customs agent before the first order.

Britbasket, a Gurugram company, sources groceries and dry foods directly from Indian producers for UK wholesalers, retailers and foodservice buyers, on DAP or DDP terms. Some consignments ship on Britbasket's own export registrations; on others the producer is exporter of record and holds the category licences for its own goods, and for spices the exporter of record must hold CRES. UK import declarations are lodged by UK-established partner companies. See the services page.

Questions buyers ask

Sources

1. HMRC uktradeinfo: Overseas Trade Statistics API (UK spice imports by country, 2023 to 2026)
2. HMRC uktradeinfo: How to use the Find UK traders tool
3. Spices Board India: Trade Advisory 1/2025-26 on GB import controls for spices
4. Spices Board India: UK regulation on increased official controls (SI 2024/120), March 2024
5. FSA: Importing high-risk food and feed of non-animal origin into Great Britain
6. Spices Board India: Mandatory test mapping by destination
7. FSA and FSS: Joint Section 42 advice on the UK-India free trade agreement
8. GOV.UK: Food labelling, giving food information to consumers
9. HMRC Trade Tariff: India free trade agreement enters into force on 15 July 2026
10. UK Trade Tariff: commodity 0904 22 00 19, crushed or ground chilli
11. UK Trade Tariff: commodity 2103 90 90 89, other sauces and mixed seasonings
12. Spices Board India: CRES exporter registration portal
13. Spices Board India: International trade fairs, FY 2026-27
14. IFE: International Food & Drink Event, ExCeL London
15. RBI: Foreign Exchange Management (Export and Import of Goods and Services) Regulations, 2026 (FEMA 23(R)/2026-RB, amended up to 22 September 2026)

Last reviewed 6 October 2026. Border, tariff and plant-health rules change. Check the sources above before relying on this guide for a specific consignment.