Peanut Export from India 2026: Buyers, HS Codes, Prices

India shipped 746,303 tonnes of groundnuts worth $794.97 million in FY2024-25 — a five-year volume high (APEDA). Then the biggest buyer changed the rules. Indonesia, which took 2.77 lakh tonnes of that total, suspended Indian peanut shipments over aflatoxin in September 2025, reopened in November with a hard 15 PPB limit, and in April 2026 added import quotas plus mandatory Global GAP certification (Kisan India). Peanut export from India is now two maps: the one exporters shipped to last year, and the one being redrawn buyer by buyer.

The redraw favours exporters who read shipment records instead of waiting for broker calls in Rajkot. Importers in Ho Chi Minh City, Manila and Port Klang are logged shipment by shipment — volumes, dates, counterparties. While the Jakarta lane wobbles, that list is where the replacement demand hides.

What does peanut export from India look like in 2026?

India exported 746,303 tonnes of groundnuts worth $794.97 million in FY2024-25, its biggest volume in five years, with Indonesia, Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia and Thailand the top destinations (APEDA). Volume rose while value fell — the same tonnage story most Indian agri lines told that year: more containers, softer unit prices.

The supply side can carry far more. India grew 118.96 lakh tonnes of groundnut in 2024-25 per the third advance estimate (APEDA/UPAg), so exports absorb well under a tenth of the crop; the rest goes to oil mills and domestic snacking. Globally, 91% of peanut trade moves as shelled kernels, and importers paid an average of $1,317 per tonne for them in 2025 (World's Top Exports). India sits at the top of that trade: roughly 21.9% of world peanut-kernel export value, ahead of Argentina, the US and Brazil (Tridge). FY2025-26 ran slower — 6.34 lakh tonnes shipped April through February (Kisan India) — and the reason is one country.

Which country buys the most peanuts from India?

Indonesia buys the most Indian peanuts — $295.7 million in 2024 — followed by Vietnam ($124.8M) and the Philippines ($70.2M), with Malaysia and Thailand close behind (Deepbeez). The top lanes, all Southeast Asian:

1. Indonesia — $295.7 million
2. Vietnam — $124.8 million
3. Philippines — $70.2 million
4. Malaysia — about $70 million
5. Thailand — about $70 million

Five countries, one region, most of an $839.2 million calendar-2024 trade (Deepbeez). That concentration cuts both ways. It kept freight simple and buyers familiar — and it means a single regulator in Jakarta can knock a third off the order book, which is exactly what happened.

Five Southeast Asian countries take most of India's groundnut containers. The importers inside each one are named in shipment records — volumes, dates, ports. That's not market colour; it's a call list.

Why the Indonesia lane broke — and who picks up the volume

Sequence matters here. In early September 2025, Indonesia's quarantine authority suspended Indian peanut imports after consignments tested high for aflatoxin; Vietnam paused Indian cargoes around the same time (Mundus Agri). Shipments to Indonesia resumed in November 2025 under a stricter 15 PPB aflatoxin ceiling. Then April 2026 brought the bigger shock: a quota system with mandatory Global GAP certification — paperwork that takes 3–6 months to obtain — announced with 14 days' notice instead of the usual 90 (Kisan India). Even after the suspension lifted, many exporters held back rather than gamble containers on a lane that could close again mid-voyage (India Seatrade News).

The numbers show the damage. Indonesia took 2.77 lakh tonnes ($280 million) of Indian groundnuts in FY2024-25; through February of FY2025-26 it had taken 1.54 lakh tonnes ($161.52 million) — a cut of more than 40% by value (Kisan India). Analysts there expect Indonesian domestic peanut prices to jump 60–80% if the squeeze holds — pressure that argues the quotas will eventually loosen. Meanwhile Sudan, Senegal and Argentina are quoting below Indian levels into open markets, and EU aflatoxin controls have tightened too (Mundus Agri). The practical response exporters describe: get Global GAP moving now, and work Vietnam, the Philippines and Malaysia harder in the meantime — buyers there are visible in import records, and several took bigger volumes while Jakarta stalled.

Groundnut HS codes: 120242, 120241 and 200811

Raw groundnuts — not roasted or otherwise cooked — sit under heading 1202. Shelled kernels, whether or not broken, ship under HS 120242; in-shell nuts under HS 120241; seed for sowing under HS 120230 (ExportImportData). Blanched kernels stay within 120242 in trade practice. Once heat does real work — roasted peanuts, peanut butter — the product jumps chapters to HS 200811.

Search discipline follows from that split. Query 120242 alone and you see the kernel trade but miss in-shell buyers; search the text string "peanut" and roasted-snack importers pollute the list. Run 120242 and 120241 separately, then compare. New to code logic? Start with our guide to what an HS code is and how to use it.

Groundnut exporters in Gujarat: the Junagadh–Rajkot belt

Gujarat leads Indian production with over a third of national output (ExportImportData), and the export trade concentrates tighter still — in Saurashtra, across Junagadh, Rajkot and Amreli. This is Bold country: the Virginia-type kernel with reddish-brown skin, traded in counts like 38/42, 40/50 and 50/60 kernels per ounce. Java, the rounder Spanish type, feeds confectionery buyers and prices at a premium. The kharif crop hits Saurashtra yards from October, which makes November to March the heavy shipping window out of Gujarat's west-coast ports.

It is a crowded field — 1,542 Indian exporters shipped peanuts to 3,236 foreign buyers across 16,234 shipments in one recent 12-month stretch (ExportImportData) — so differentiation is mostly quality proof. One habit that separates serious Saurashtra shippers since the Indonesia episode: pre-test every lot at an accredited lab and attach the aflatoxin certificate to the first quote. Buyers burned by rejected consignments now read the COA before the price. The same cluster logic runs across Gujarat's other export crops — see how it plays out in cumin export data.

Peanut export from India: prices in 2026

As of late June 2026, Indian FOB offers for non-EU quality stood at $1,245/tonne for Bold 40/50 — up from $1,180 in October 2025 — with Java grades commanding more (Mundus Agri, Oct 2025 report):

"EU quality" — tighter aflatoxin spec — prices above these levels, and buyers increasingly write the spec into contracts regardless of destination. Quote against the destination's testing regime, not the mandi board. With cheaper Sudanese and Argentine offers circling, Indian sellers hold margin on grade consistency and count accuracy, not on being the lowest number in the inbox.

Indonesia didn't stop eating peanuts in 2026. It raised the compliance bar. The exporters who clear it — certificate first, quote second — inherit the volumes of those who don't.

How ShipScout turns groundnut export data into buyers

ShipScout is a global trade-intelligence platform — 11 billion-plus shipment records across 240+ countries, priced for SMEs rather than enterprise procurement teams. It helps Indian groundnut exporters find and vet buyers with data-backed targeting, working from mirrored licensed trade data for India-linked trade. The peanut workflow:

• Search HS 120242 and 120241. Pull importer lists for Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia and beyond, ranked by shipment volume, in the company directory.
• Watch the lane that's reshuffling. Track which Indonesian importers resumed buying after November 2025 and who replaced Indian origin with Sudanese or Argentine cargo — then time your approach.
• Vet before you load. A buyer's real shipment history beats a reference letter; here's how to verify an international partner before paying.
• Reach the right desk. Contact intelligence (where available) skips the info@ inbox. The wider playbook: finding buyers for export from India and the food & agro buyer guide.

A tactic that works in this exact market: pull a Manila or Haiphong importer's last two quarters of peanut receipts, note the counts and origins they bought, and open your email with that detail plus a fresh aflatoxin COA. Replies change when the buyer sees you know their purchasing better than their current supplier does. The FY2024-25 record proved the demand; the 2026 shake-up is redistributing it. Start a free trial and search HS 120242 to see who's buying now.