Agriculture · Nuts & Dried Fruits
Dates
Dates sourced for companies across the UK and EU. Verified suppliers, benchmarked pricing and the full document pack.
Overview
What Dates is and who uses it
Dates is one of the commodities we source regularly. Material in this category goes into snack and confectionery manufacture, bakery, cereal and bar production, nut butter and flour processing, and retail packing. We agree the specification, the grade and any certification you need before we approach a single supplier.
Why go through us rather than buying direct
Agricultural supply is spread across thousands of small exporters, and the quality of a cargo is decided at origin rather than when it lands. Buy direct with nobody checking and you find out about the missing phytosanitary certificate, or the aflatoxin reading, at the border. By then the money has gone and the cargo is sitting on demurrage. We verify the supplier, fix the specification in the contract, and inspect before anything ships.
Specification
Variants & Grades
The grades below are the ones traded commercially. If a grade has a standard code, put the code in your brief rather than describing the material. Codes are enforceable in a contract. Descriptions are not.
- Medjool Dates
- Deglet Noor Dates
- Pitted Dates
- Date Paste
- Date Syrup
Sourcing
Origin Countries
We source this from the countries below. Origin is not a preference. It decides which phytosanitary and licensing rules apply, what specification is achievable, how the freight routes and what sanctions exposure you take on. We choose it against your compliance and delivery needs, not on price alone.
Standards
Compliance & Documentation
Everything below is applied as standard on this commodity. You get the complete document set when the transaction closes.
- Aflatoxin limits under Commission Regulation (EC) No 1881/2006: the single most common cause of border rejection in this category
- Phytosanitary certificate (IPPC standard)
- Sulphur dioxide declaration for dried fruit under (EC) No 1333/2008
- Pesticide maximum residue levels under (EC) No 396/2005
- Health certificate and, where applicable, increased border control listing under Regulation (EU) 2019/1793
Verification
Quality & Inspection
Put the parameters below in your brief with a tolerance against each, not a single target figure. A specification without tolerances gives the contract nothing to fall back on when a cargo lands marginally out.
- Grade and count per unit weight
- Moisture content (%)
- Aflatoxin B1 and total aflatoxin (ppb)
- Broken and defective (%)
- Foreign matter (%)
- Peroxide value (for oil-bearing kernels)
- Colour grade
- Sulphur dioxide residue (ppm, dried fruit)
We appoint an independent inspection agency at origin. They check quantity, quality against what was contracted, and the condition of the packaging, all before the shipment is released for loading. That certificate is what any later claim rests on.
Movement
Getting it to you
| Packaging | Vacuum packs of 22.68 kg (50 lb) for kernels, or cartons of 10 to 12.5 kg with food-grade liners |
|---|---|
| Shipment | 20 ft FCL; temperature-controlled equipment for kernels moving through warm transhipment ports |
| Storage | Cool and dry below 20 °C at low relative humidity to hold peroxide value and prevent rancidity |
| Incoterms | FOB, CFR, CIF, DAP |
Engagement
How to order Dates
Send us a brief covering the points below. Within one working day we will tell you whether we can fulfil it, how we would approach it, what paperwork it needs and roughly how long it takes.
- Which grade of Dates you need, with tolerances
- Volume, and whether this is one shipment or a regular requirement
- Where it needs to land, which port, and by when
- Any certification you need: organic, Halal, Kosher, RSPO, FSC or other
- Preferred Incoterms and how you want to pay
- Packaging format and any labelling
Next step
Need Dates?
Send us the specification, the volume and when you need it. We will confirm whether we can do it, and how, within one working day.