What is the minimum order quantity when you buy chemicals from China?

What does MOQ mean in chemical sourcing?

MOQ is the minimum order quantity — the smallest amount a supplier will sell you, and below which the price no longer works for either side. In bulk chemical trade it is usually expressed in containers rather than kilos, because the container is what the production run, the packaging and the freight are built around. One FCL is one full container of a single product.

What is your MOQ?

1 FCL for most products, unless otherwise stated. That is a real starting point, not a 'talk to our sales team' number: buyers testing China sourcing for the first time start with a 1 FCL trial, check the documentation and the quality, and then scale. We do not ask for a long-term contract before the first order — some buyers who started with one FCL now order over 1,000 kg a quarter.

Is a trading company's minimum the same as a factory's?

The number is the same — one container — and the reason behind it is not. A factory typically makes one or two products, so a full container is the smallest run that makes sense for it to produce at all. Our minimum is one company, but not one product: we can supply several products from several factories, and where that consolidation is possible it is often the reason a trading company is the practical answer at a volume a single factory will not take on.

Why does an MOQ exist at all?

Because a production run, a filling line and a container are all sized together. A factory making up to a full container's worth of a product per run gets a far better unit price than one making a fraction of it, and the freight is paid on the container whether it is full or not. That is the whole mechanism — MOQ is not a way of excluding small buyers, it is what makes the price work at all. Where we can combine products from different lines into one container, we do, and the combined delivery across four verticals is part of the service.

What if I need less than one container?

Tell us what you actually need. Quantities are negotiable depending on the product and how we can consolidate them — and there are cases where shipping a part container is more expensive than the goods, which is worth knowing before you decide. Send the product, the quantity and the destination and you will get factory pricing and lead times within two business days, with the freight shown as a separate line rather than buried in the unit price.

Does a larger order get a better price?

Usually yes, and the reason is volume rather than discount. Established buyers carry a legacy relationship with the same factory that a first-time buyer does not have, and a working trading company buys more over a year than a first-time buyer will. Volume is what earns the price, not the middleman. It also cuts in the other direction: a company that specialises in one narrow product category can genuinely be cheaper on that one item than we are, and I would rather say so than quote around it.

How do I get a quote?

Send the product name, the quantity, the destination country and any specification requirements. You get factory pricing and lead times within two business days, and a first order at 1 FCL is a normal way to start. There is a separate page on the documents that travel with the shipment if that is what you need to check first.

Which products does the 1 FCL minimum apply to?

All of them unless the product page says otherwise. The catalogue lists the MOQ against every product, and where a product has its own minimum it is shown there rather than left for you to discover at quote stage. You can see the full list with MOQ, HS code and specification on the product catalogue page, and the twelve products I source on request are on the on-request page.

There is a longer answer to why a one-container minimum is the same for a trading company and a factory when the reason behind it is not, and to what neither of us can do for a large order. It is in my notes on factory and trading company.