MOQ and Lead Time for Vine Leaves: Planning Your B2B Procurement Calendar
What MOQ actually means for vine leaves
Most vine-leaf suppliers quote MOQ in one of two ways:
- Pallets (for retail-grade buckets, typically 10 Kg or 20 Kg)
- Containers (for volume programs in 150 / 180 Kg drums)
For Tuna Sourcing programmes, MOQ is quoted after the buyer shares packaging format, destination, certification scope, and whether the request is a trial shipment or a repeat-volume programme. The minimum is not arbitrary. It reflects the cost-floor of preparing a documented shipment: COA generation, sample retention, BL drafting, customs clearance, and port handling.
Lead-time stacking - the addition you have to plan for
Lead times are not flat. They add up across three axes:
| Axis | Adds approximately | |---|---| | Origin (Türkiye baseline) | Reference | | Origin (Syria) | + 7-10 days routing | | Origin (Xinjiang) | + 14-21 days routing | | Grade (Pesticide-Free vs Conventional) | + 7 days residue test | | Grade (Organic vs Conventional) | + 14-21 days audit chain | | Single-origin specification | + 3-7 days consolidation | | Halal/Kosher certificate add-on | + 3-7 days if not already on scope |
A Türkiye conventional trial programme is usually the fastest to schedule.
A Xinjiang organic volume programme needs more planning time because origin routing and certification document flow stack together.
Plan your retail calendar backwards from the on-shelf date, not forwards from the order date.
The harvest-window constraint
For new-season stock, the harvest window is the hard constraint. Türkiye's vine-leaf harvest runs roughly mid-May to late June; the first new-season stock ships approximately 6-8 weeks after harvest closes.
If your Q4 retail program requires new-season stock, the order needs to be on the books by early September at the latest to ship before the end of October.
For programs that don't require new-season specificity, well-preserved prior-season stock ships year-round - the 18-month shelf life means even March of the year-after harvest is within window.
Sample programs
Sample plans are quoted against stock availability, variety, grade, and destination. Small pre-shipment samples, larger evaluation samples, and multi-variety comparison packs can be arranged when the requested lot is available.
Container loading economics
For container-load programs, the cost per kilo drops meaningfully as the order size scales:
- Trial shipment: highest per-kg cost; covers fixed shipping overhead with smallest volume
- Half container (LCL): middle ground; shared container slot
- Full container (FCL): lowest per-kg cost; full container dedicated to your spec
For repeat programs, booking quarterly FCL shipments at locked rates is typically the lowest-cost path. We quote against quarterly forecasts.
Repeat-program contracts
Buyers shipping the same spec repeatedly can lock into a contract with declared annual volume. The supplier benefits from production predictability; the buyer benefits from locked pricing and priority allocation when harvest yields are tight.
Contract terms we typically quote:
- 12-month declared volume
- Quarterly call-off windows
- Fixed unit price for the contract period
- Right-of-first-refusal on harvest allocation
How to start
Send your annual volume estimate, target destination port, and certification scope via our contact page. We come back with a quarterly call-off plan and FCL pricing aligned to the harvest calendar.
For one-off trials, the path is faster - send the spec, we quote in 24 hours.