Hand-sorted Kashmiri Mongra and Iranian Super Negin threads, certified against ISO 3632-1 thresholds and released with a lot-wise certificate of analysis — from our floor in Tapi to your port.
Figures shown are the ISO 3632-1 Category I minimums this lot is certified against. Lot-specific measured values travel with the shipment COA.
Every grade below is certified against a published ISO 3632-1 category. Pick one to see the thresholds it must meet, what it looks like, and how it ships.
Two things separate a real grade from a good story: what the thread looks like at 5×, and what the spectrophotometer says. Both are below.
Move across the threads to magnify
This magnifier runs on a photograph, so treat it as training rather than proof. On a real sample, do the same inspection under a 10× loupe in daylight — and then read the certificate.
Crocin is the only honest way to compare two saffrons. It is measured by absorbance at 440 nm and reported as E¹% 1cm. The higher the figure, the more colour a gram delivers — and the fewer grams your recipe needs.
The colour rendering here is illustrative — a teaching aid, not a colourimeter. What travels with your shipment is a laboratory figure for your specific lot.
Pick up to three. Where a specification has a clear winner it is marked — but "best" on paper is not always right for your product.
Crocin is the headline figure, but it is not the whole story. Sargol matches Mongra on chemistry and is far cheaper — it simply cannot be sold as whole thread. Choose on the application, not the row.
We buy at source in two saffron belts and grade both on the same bench in Gujarat, so a buyer can compare like for like.
The karewa plateaus above the Jhelum. A short October–November window, picked at first light and separated by hand the same day — which is why Kashmiri thread carries its colour.
The world's largest saffron belt. Long, uniform Super Negin threads with consistent lot-to-lot chemistry — the practical choice when a buyer needs volume on a repeat schedule.
The chain a single lot moves through before it reaches your warehouse — and the document that comes out of each step.
Every consignment carries a lot code. Enter it and the harvest date, origin, measured test values, the laboratory that ran them and the full custody chain come back — with the certificate itself one click away.
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The lots above are demonstration records so you can see how the lookup behaves. On the live site this reads from Pravaha's real lot register, and every value shown is transcribed from an accredited laboratory report.
The single most common confusion in a saffron enquiry. Mongra is stigma only — all red. Lacha keeps a length of the pale style attached, which lowers the colour value per gram.
Lacha — style attached
Mongra — all red
Real saffron releases a slow golden-yellow in cold water over 10–15 minutes. An instant red bleed means dye.
Rub a thread between wet fingers. Saffron stains yellow-orange. A red stain on the skin points to colouring.
Under a loupe each stigma flares into a trumpet at one end. Safflower and dyed corn silk are flat-ended.
Sweet-hay with a faint metallic edge from safranal. A sweet, candy-like smell suggests added sugar or honey.
Set the grade, volume, destination and terms. The desk works out cartons, gross weight, container fit and an indicative landed cost, then composes the whole enquiry for WhatsApp or email.
Buyers flinch at the price per kilo and forget the dose. Set a dish and a cover count — this works out the grams, the cost, and how far a single kilo goes.
Dose rates are typical professional-kitchen figures. Costs use the mid-point of the indicative band for the selected grade and follow the currency chosen in the Export Desk.
Plan around it. Flowers come in October and November; new-crop stock lands from December and is at its freshest through spring. Late summer is when the market tightens.
Retail-ready or bulk, in your artwork or ours. Food-grade, tamper-evident and compliant with destination labelling on request.
Cork or screw-cap clear glass with a tamper band. The default retail unit for gifting and pharmacy shelves.
Lithographed tin with an inner liner. Blocks light and travels well in hot lanes — our most requested export unit.
Your artwork, barcode and destination-compliant nutrition panel, printed and applied before despatch.
Vacuum or nitrogen-flushed aluminium laminate inside a master carton, palletised and strapped.
Indicative door-to-port transit on the lanes we run most often. Air freight is available on every lane for sample and urgent volumes.
Registrations, test reports and shipping paperwork — what it covers, who issues it, and when you receive it.
Monthly notes on harvest, pricing pressure and lane conditions from our sourcing team.
Arrivals, colour values and where the price band settled through May.
Read the note
Post-harvest stock positions and what they meant for forward contracts.
Read the note
Export demand by lane and the currency effect on landed cost.
Read the note
Pravaha International is an India-based export company supplying premium spices to global markets from Tapi, Gujarat. We work in saffron because it is the one spice where grading is everything and where most of the trade still sells on adjectives.
Our position is simple: every lot is graded against a published standard, tested, and released with a certificate that names its measured values. If a buyer wants to verify us, the paperwork is already in their hands.
Three short steps. You'll get an indicative offer, a specification sheet and a sample dispatch window — normally inside one working day, with an instant confirmation to your inbox.
Our minimum starts at 500 g for Kashmiri Mongra, Kashmiri Lacha and Iranian Super Negin, and 1 kg for Iranian Negin and Sargol. Low minimums are deliberate — a first order should be able to be a real test order.
Yes. Every lot we release is tested against ISO 3632-1 and ships with a lot-wise certificate of analysis stating the measured crocin, picrocrocin and safranal values plus moisture for that specific lot — not a generic figure. You can preview the format in the lot traceability section above.
Mongra is stigma only — all red, with the pale style removed. Lacha keeps a length of the style attached. Because the style carries almost no colouring power, Lacha has a structurally lower crocin value per gram and is priced accordingly. Neither is fake; they are different grades. See the grade comparisons for detail.
We ship from Nhava Sheva (INNSA), with Mundra available on request. Indicative sea transit is 5–8 days to Jebel Ali, 7–11 days to Jeddah, 21–28 days to UK and European ports, and 26–34 days to the US East Coast. Air freight runs 3–6 days on every lane.
Yes. We pack under your artwork, barcode and destination-compliant labelling in glass vials, metal tins, foil pouches or bulk cartons, applied before despatch.
Yes. Samples are dispatched within 24–72 hours of confirmation. A five-grade comparison kit lets you assess Mongra, Lacha, Super Negin, Negin and Sargol side by side against their certificates.
Pick a starting point — it opens WhatsApp with the message ready.
Send me price & specs I'd like a sample Private label enquiry Verify a lot / COA