If you want to buy Thai jasmine rice in bulk, you’re usually trying to answer three questions at the same time. Is the rice real? Is the price fair? And will the container that lands at your port look like the sample you approved? We hear those questions every week, so this guide answers them the way we would on a phone call, without the sales fluff.
We are De Thai Products 1989 Company Limited, a rice miller and exporter in Chachoengsao, Thailand. We sell Thai Hom Mali rice and Thai jasmine rice (also called Pathumthani fragrant rice) by the container to importers, wholesalers, supermarket chains and food service companies in every region of the world. So yes, part of this page is a sales pitch. The rest is the checklist we wish every first-time buyer had before they picked up the phone.
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What You Get When You Buy Thai Jasmine Rice in Bulk From Us
We buy paddy from farmers and cooperatives, mill it in our own plant and pack it close to the export ports. Because we handle the rice ourselves, we can tell you the crop year, the milling date and the purity of the exact lot you’re buying. Here’s what’s available right now for anyone who wants to buy Thai jasmine rice in bulk:
- Thai Hom Mali rice, the premium fragrant rice from the northeast, in 92% purity and 100% grade.
- Thai jasmine rice / Pathumthani fragrant rice, the lower-priced fragrant rice from the central plains.
- Organic jasmine rice, for buyers running an organic retail line.
- Brown jasmine rice and broken jasmine rice, quoted on request.
Most customers who buy Thai jasmine rice in bulk mix grades in one shipment. A supermarket group might take Hom Mali for its premium shelf, Pathumthani for its value pack, and fill the rest of the container with white rice 5% broken. We’re happy to do that. Tell us what your customers eat and we’ll help you split the load.
Our Specifications
These are the numbers we work to. When you buy Thai jasmine rice in bulk from us, the spec is written into the contract, and an independent inspection company checks the rice against it before the container is sealed.
Thai Hom Mali Rice (KDML105 and RD15)
| Item | Specification |
|---|---|
| Purity | 92% minimum (100% grade available) |
| Broken grains | 4.5% maximum |
| Moisture | 14% maximum |
| Admixture | 2% maximum |
| Chalky kernels | 6% maximum |
| Yellow kernels | 0.2% maximum |
| Milling | Double polished and sortexed |
| Crop | Current season, confirmed at booking |
| Shelf life | 12 to 24 months from milling under good storage |
Thai Jasmine Rice (Pathumthani Fragrant Rice)
| Item | Specification |
|---|---|
| Grain | Long grain, white, milled and polished |
| Purity | 95% minimum |
| Broken grains | 5% maximum |
| Moisture | 14% maximum |
| Foreign matter | 0.1% maximum |
| Crop | Current season |
| Packing | 1kg, 5kg, 10kg, 25kg and 50kg bags |
Need something tighter, like under 3% broken for a premium retail brand? Tell us before we book. We can sort for it, and the price goes up a little to pay for the extra sorting time.
Hom Mali or Pathumthani? Decide Before You Ask for a Price
This is the first thing we ask every buyer, because the two rices sit at very different prices and people often compare a Hom Mali offer from one mill with a Pathumthani offer from another, then wonder why the gap is so big.
Hom Mali is grown once a year in the rainy season, mostly in the northeast. It has the strongest aroma, the softest texture and the most recognised name. It’s what you want if your customers are Thai, Chinese, Vietnamese or Filipino families who know exactly how jasmine rice should smell when the pot is opened.
Pathumthani fragrant rice is grown in the central region and can be harvested more than once a year. It still smells like jasmine rice, just more lightly, and it costs a good deal less. Restaurants, caterers and value retail packs use it a lot. We wrote a full comparison in Pathumthani fragrant rice vs Hom Mali rice if you want the detail.
Our honest advice: if your label says Hom Mali, buy Hom Mali. If your label just says jasmine rice and your customers shop on price, Pathumthani is the smarter way to buy Thai jasmine rice in bulk.
How Much Rice Counts as Bulk?
In the export trade, bulk usually means at least one full container. A 20ft container takes about 25 metric tons of bagged rice. A 40ft container doesn’t hold twice as much rice, because weight limits kick in before space runs out, so most rice moves in 20ft boxes. Our guide on how many tons of rice fit in a 20ft container breaks down the numbers by bag size.
If you’re new and nervous about committing to 25 tons, start with one mixed container. Many buyers who buy Thai jasmine rice in bulk for the first time split a single box between two or three grades so they can test their market. Our post on Thai rice minimum order quantity explains what’s possible.
Larger importers who buy Thai jasmine rice in bulk usually book a fixed number of containers each month. That gets them steadier pricing and priority milling during busy seasons.
Packing Options
How you pack the rice matters almost as much as the rice itself, because the bag is what your customer sees first. We offer:
- 50kg PP woven bags, the standard for wholesalers and markets.
- 25kg bags, popular with restaurants and cash-and-carry stores.
- 5kg and 10kg retail bags, printed or plain.
- 1kg and 2kg packs for supermarket shelves.
- Vacuum packs for buyers who want to hold the aroma longer.
- Your own brand printed on the bag, under private label.
Smaller packs cost more per ton because of the bag and the extra labour. If you’re comparing offers, check that both suppliers quoted the same bag. For bag sizes, read Thai Hom Mali rice 25kg bag and 50kg bag, and for your own brand, see private label Thai Hom Mali rice.
What Sets the Price When You Buy Thai Jasmine Rice in Bulk
Nobody can give you a fixed price for months ahead, and you should be suspicious of anyone who tries. Thai rice prices move every week. Here’s what pushes them around:
- Grade. Hom Mali costs much more than Pathumthani, and 100% grade costs more than 92%.
- Crop year. New crop Hom Mali, available from around December, is priced higher because the aroma is at its best.
- The baht. Thai exporters sell in US dollars but pay farmers in baht. When the baht gets stronger, dollar prices rise.
- Packing. Small retail bags and private label printing add cost.
- Freight. If you buy CIF or CFR, the shipping cost is built into the price.
To give you a rough idea, here’s where FOB prices have been sitting in recent months. Treat these as a guide only. We send a dated offer with every quote.
| Grade | Approximate FOB price (USD per metric ton) |
|---|---|
| Thai jasmine rice (Pathumthani), 5% broken | about 620 to 780 |
| Thai Hom Mali rice, 92% purity | about 1,100 to 1,150 |
| Thai Hom Mali rice, 100% grade | above the 92% grade, quoted per crop |
The Thai Rice Exporters Association publishes weekly reference prices, which is a good way to check that any offer you get is in the right range. For more on pricing, read Thai jasmine rice price per ton and FOB vs CIF rice price.
How to Buy Thai Jasmine Rice in Bulk From Us, Step by Step
- Send us your inquiry with the grade, quantity, bag size, destination port and the date you need the rice.
- We reply with a dated offer, usually within one working day.
- We send cooked-test samples by courier.
- Once you approve the sample, we issue a proforma invoice or sales contract with the full spec.
- You arrange payment, by bank transfer deposit or a letter of credit.
- We mill, pack and arrange independent inspection, then load the container.
- We send your shipping documents so you can clear the rice at your port.
That’s the whole process to buy Thai jasmine rice in bulk from us. Most first orders take three to five weeks from inquiry to loading, depending on the bag you choose and how quickly samples are approved. Printed private label bags take longer because the bags have to be made first.
Samples: Cook Them, Don’t Just Look at Them
Every serious buyer should ask for samples before they buy Thai jasmine rice in bulk. Don’t just pour them on a table and look. Cook them. Raw rice can look perfect and still cook up hard, sticky or with almost no smell.
Here’s what we suggest. Cook the sample with your usual water ratio. Check the smell as soon as you lift the lid. Taste it hot, then again after an hour, because some rice hardens quickly as it cools. And keep part of the raw sample sealed, so you can compare it with the shipment when it arrives.
If you’re worried about blends being sold as Hom Mali, read our post on how to identify genuine Thai Hom Mali rice. It walks through simple tests you can do at home or in a lab.
The Documents That Come With Your Rice
When you buy Thai jasmine rice in bulk, the paperwork is what gets the rice out of your port. Every shipment from us comes with:
- Commercial invoice and packing list
- Bill of lading
- Certificate of origin, including the form needed for any trade agreement your country has with Thailand
- Phytosanitary certificate
- Fumigation certificate
- Quality and weight certificate from an independent inspection company
- Thai Hom Mali rice certificate for Hom Mali shipments, issued under the rules of the Department of Foreign Trade
Some countries need extra papers, like a health certificate, halal certificate or a lab test for residues. Tell us early and we’ll arrange it. Our full list is in rice export documents.
Shipping and Transit Times
We load from Laem Chabang and Bangkok port. Rough transit times we see on common routes:
| Destination region | Typical sea time |
|---|---|
| Southeast Asia and China | 1 to 2 weeks |
| Middle East | 2 to 3 weeks |
| Europe | 4 to 6 weeks |
| West and Central Africa | 5 to 7 weeks |
| North America | 3 to 6 weeks, depending on coast |
| Australia and New Zealand | 2 to 4 weeks |
Transshipment can add a week or more. We’ll tell you the route before you commit. We can sell FOB, CFR or CIF. If you’re unsure which works best for you, the ICC Incoterms rules spell out who pays for what.
Payment Terms
For first orders, most buyers pay a deposit by bank transfer, usually 30%, with the balance paid against a copy of the bill of lading. We also accept irrevocable letters of credit at sight from a recognised bank. Once we’ve worked together for a while, terms can loosen.
If you buy Thai jasmine rice in bulk from a new supplier, be careful with any seller who asks for 100% payment upfront before showing you samples, a company registration and a real address. Rice fraud is common, and the easiest way to avoid it is to buy from a mill you can visit or verify.
Mistakes First-Time Buyers Make
We’ve seen these enough times that they’re worth listing:
- Comparing prices without comparing specs. A cheap Hom Mali offer is often a blend.
- Ignoring the crop year. Old crop rice is cheaper for a reason. Read old crop vs new crop jasmine rice.
- Skipping independent inspection to save a few dollars a ton.
- Choosing a bag size your customers don’t want.
- Not checking your own country’s label rules before printing bags.
- Buying from brokers who don’t own or control the stock.
None of these are hard to avoid. They just need a bit of attention before you sign.
Storing the Rice Once It Arrives
Jasmine rice keeps its smell best when it’s kept cool and dry. Stack bags on pallets, away from walls, and keep the warehouse ventilated. Sell older stock first. The aroma slowly fades after milling, so a warehouse full of rice from many months ago won’t impress your customers the way fresh stock does.
This is one reason many importers buy Thai jasmine rice in bulk monthly rather than in one giant order. Smaller, regular containers keep the rice on the shelf fresh.
Who Buys Thai Jasmine Rice in Bulk From Us
Our customers are a mix of:
- Importers and wholesalers who supply Asian grocery stores and markets.
- Supermarket chains, often under their own label.
- Restaurant groups and caterers. See bulk jasmine rice for restaurants.
- Food manufacturers making ready meals, snacks and frozen dishes. See rice supplier for food manufacturers.
Each of these buyers wants something slightly different. Restaurants care most about how the rice cooks in large batches. Supermarkets care about the bag and the brand. Manufacturers care about consistency from one lot to the next. When you buy Thai jasmine rice in bulk from us, tell us which group you’re in and we’ll suggest the grade that fits.
Why Buy From a Mill Instead of a Trader
Traders aren’t bad. Some are very good. But a trader has to buy from a mill and add a margin, and they don’t always know what happened to the rice before it reached the warehouse. When you buy direct from us, you talk to the people grading and packing your rice. If something needs to change, like more sorting or a different bag, it gets done on the same line, not passed along a chain of phone calls. You can read more about how we work on our quality control and rice standard pages.
Quality Checks We Run Before Loading
A spec sheet is only a promise. What matters is whether the rice in the container matches it. Before any order leaves our warehouse, our own lab checks moisture, broken percentage, chalky and yellow kernels, and foreign matter. For Hom Mali, we also check purity, because that’s where blending problems usually hide.
After our checks, an independent inspection company takes its own samples while the bags are loaded. Their certificate goes into your document set. If their results don’t match the contract, the container doesn’t ship until it does. That’s the main protection you have when you buy Thai jasmine rice in bulk from any supplier, so never agree to skip it.
We also keep a sealed reference sample from every lot for at least a year. If a customer of yours ever complains, we can pull the sample and check it together.
What Different Markets Ask For
After years of shipping, we’ve noticed that buyers in different regions tend to want slightly different things when they buy Thai jasmine rice in bulk:
- Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia: new crop Hom Mali, strong aroma, small retail bags.
- The Middle East: long, clean grains, 25kg and 50kg bags, plus halal paperwork.
- Europe: tight specs, residue testing and clear labelling.
- West and Central Africa: 25kg and 50kg bags, a sharp price and Pathumthani fragrant rice as often as Hom Mali.
- The Americas: mostly 25lb and 50lb style packs for Asian stores and restaurants, plus private label.
- Australia and New Zealand: careful paperwork for biosecurity and a mix of retail and food service packs.
None of this is a rule. It just helps us suggest a starting point when a new buyer isn’t sure what to order.
An Example: Pricing One Container
Here’s a simple example of how the cost works when you buy Thai jasmine rice in bulk. Say the FOB price for Pathumthani fragrant rice, 5% broken, in 50kg bags is 700 US dollars a ton. One 20ft container holds about 25 tons. That’s around 17,500 dollars for the rice, loaded on the ship in Thailand.
On top of that you’ll pay sea freight, insurance if you buy FOB, port charges at your end, import duty and taxes in your country, and trucking to your warehouse. Those costs vary a lot by country, so ask your freight forwarder for a full landed cost before you set your selling price. We can quote CFR or CIF to your port so you only need to work out the costs after arrival.
What to Put in Your Contract
A good contract protects both sides. When you buy Thai jasmine rice in bulk from us, the contract will include:
- The exact grade and full specification
- Crop year
- Quantity, with a small tolerance, usually plus or minus 5%
- Bag type, bag weight and marking
- Price and Incoterm
- Shipment period and port of loading
- Payment terms
- Inspection company and what happens if results don’t match
- The documents we’ll provide
If anything on that list is missing from an offer you receive from someone else, ask for it before you pay. A clear contract is the easiest way to buy Thai jasmine rice in bulk without nasty surprises later.
Planning a Regular Supply
One container is a good test. But most of our importers end up ordering every month or every quarter. If you plan to buy Thai jasmine rice in bulk regularly, tell us your yearly volume. We can then plan milling around your shipment dates, hold paddy from the right crop for you, and keep the quality steady from one container to the next. Steady quality is what keeps your own customers coming back.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the smallest order you accept?
Usually one 20ft container, about 25 tons. It can be split between grades.
Can I visit the mill?
Yes. We welcome buyers who want to see the plant before they buy Thai jasmine rice in bulk. Contact us to arrange a date.
Do you ship worldwide?
Yes. We ship to Asia, the Middle East, Europe, Africa, the Americas and Oceania.
How long does the rice last?
Twelve to 24 months from milling when stored cool and dry, though aroma is strongest in the first months.
Can you print my brand on the bags?
Yes. Send us the artwork and we’ll quote the bag cost and lead time.
Is the price fixed for a year?
No. Rice prices move weekly. Every offer has a validity date, often a few days.
Ready to Buy Thai Jasmine Rice in Bulk?
Send us four things: the grade, the quantity, the bag size and your destination port. We’ll come back with a dated offer and arrange samples. If you’re still at the planning stage, our guide on how to import rice from Thailand covers the full process from your side.
De Thai Products 1989 Company Limited. Email info@dethairice.com, WhatsApp +66 81 034 6390, or use our contact page. We answer every serious inquiry from buyers who want to buy Thai jasmine rice in bulk, whether it’s one container or fifty.
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