It is tempting to assume that a cashew enquiry begins and ends with a price per kilogram. In practice, price is rarely the first question a serious buyer asks.

The first question is usually about consistency. A retailer running an own-label programme needs the kernel in shipment eleven to look like the kernel in shipment one. That means agreed tolerances on defective count, moisture, colour band and broken percentage, and a grading process disciplined enough to hold them.

The second question is about documentation. Certificates of analysis, phytosanitary paperwork, origin declarations and lot codes need to arrive with the goods, complete, in the format the buyer's own compliance team expects.

The third is about reliability of shipment. A buyer planning promotional volume nine months out needs to know that a container will leave when it was contracted to leave. Missing a window costs far more than a small difference in unit price.

Price matters, of course. But it is generally the fourth conversation, not the first, and a supplier who leads with it tends to reveal that the other three are not yet under control.