Sourcing Turkish Food Ingredients for the Indian Market

India is a market that has to be read in reverse. It is itself one of the world's great exporters of spices and rice, so most of what Turkey sells elsewhere makes no sense here; what India does buy from Turkey is a short list, and in two of those categories Turkey is not just a supplier but effectively the market. This guide concentrates on that short list, on the licensing and duty structure that shapes it, and on the ingredient-level, business-to-business framing that suits it best.

The two categories Turkey dominates

Poppy seed comes first. Turkey supplies about 77% of India's poppy-seed imports, worth around 8.5 million US dollars in 2024, and India in turn absorbs roughly 76% of Turkey's poppy-seed export value — a structural two-way dependency serving the Bengali and South Indian kitchens where the ingredient is a staple. Hazelnuts come second: Turkey accounts for around 53% of India's hazelnut imports, with some 1,850 shipments recorded between July 2024 and June 2025, feeding chocolate manufacturers, hotels and foodservice, and the premium gifting brands that have made hazelnuts a rising line in the dry-fruit trade. In both categories the Turkish origin is hard to substitute, which is why these flows continue steadily.

Dried apricots and the gifting calendar

Dried apricots are the third established line. Turkey is the world's leading dried-apricot exporter, and Indian dry-fruit consumption is growing on the strength of health positioning and festival gifting, with the season peaking into Diwali. The buyers are the dry-fruit wholesalers of Delhi's Khari Baoli and Mumbai, and the gifting and e-commerce brands that plan their sourcing in late summer for the autumn festival window. Dried fig is a more modest story: Indian buyers generally rate Afghan figs higher for their softer texture, while Turkish figs are larger and drier, so Turkish fig sits in the value segment rather than the premium one. Red lentil is cyclical — India imports around 1.5 million tonnes a year but sources mainly from Australia, Canada and Russia, and an 11% duty was reinstated in 2025, so Turkish supply enters mainly in shortage years.

Poppy seed: for licensed importers only

Poppy-seed import into India is state-controlled and licensed, with contracts registered through the narcotics authorities. That defines the buyer: only licensed importers, working within their registered contract framework. TeraVella supplies poppy seed on that basis alone, with batch documentation prepared to support the importer's registration, and does not serve any other buyer type in this category. Supply on the Turkish side is also subject to the state grain board's quota and pricing decisions, which produce periodic price swings, so terms are confirmed against the current position rather than promised in advance.

FSSAI documentation and the duty structure

An Indian importer needs an Importer-Exporter Code, an FSSAI import licence, a phytosanitary certificate, a fumigation certificate, a certificate of analysis, a certificate of origin and Plant Quarantine clearance. The Turkish supplier's contribution is the certificate of analysis, origin documentation and consistent batch records those filings depend on. Duties are high and vary widely: dried fruit and nuts attract basic customs duty ranging from 0% to as much as 120% depending on the line, plus IGST of 5–12% and a social-welfare surcharge, so every quotation has to be read against the product-specific duty before it is compared. This is a structural reason India works as a market for a few specific ingredients rather than a broad catalogue, and why the sourcing conversation stays at the ingredient level — product, specification, documentation — rather than at the consumer-brand level.

Working with a single sourcing partner

An Indian importer working across poppy seed, hazelnut kernels and dried apricots benefits from a single Turkish partner who applies the same certificate-of-analysis discipline and origin documentation across all three, who respects the licensed-importer framework for poppy seed without exception, and who is candid about where a Turkish product sits in the Indian market rather than overstating it. TeraVella produces dried fruit within its own network and sources hazelnuts and poppy seed through verified supplier partners with batch-level certificates; in both cases the buyer deals with one point of specification, and commercial terms are confirmed in the quotation stage rather than published.