A practical, worked-through method to compare fresh, frozen, and dehydrated Indonesian vegetables on one fair footing: landed cost per usable kilogram. Includes rehydration formulas, trim and moisture adjustments, reefer freight assumptions, and real-world examples.
If you’re comparing a $1.15/kg fresh quote with a $2.10/kg frozen offer and a $9.50/kg dehydrated price, you can’t pick the winner by eyeballing it. Different moisture, trim loss, freight, and duties make raw price-per-kilo meaningless. The only way to make a clean decision is to convert everything into one number: landed cost per usable kilogram. Here’s the exact system we use when advising buyers on Indonesian vegetable exports in 2025.
The single metric that ends confusion: landed cost per usable kilogram
Landed cost per usable kg = Total landed cost at your port or DC divided by usable kilograms after moisture, trim, and format-specific losses.
Step 1. Standardize the commercial term.
- Convert all offers to CIF or DAP to your destination, then add the same local costs. Don’t compare one supplier on FOB against another on CIF.
Step 2. Convert gross kg to usable kg.
- Fresh: subtract peel/trim and expected wastage during shelf life.
- Frozen: subtract glaze and non-edible spec factors (e.g., edamame in pod vs shelled). Minimal prep trim.
- Dehydrated: convert with a rehydration or solids-based formula to get fresh-equivalent kg.
Step 3. Divide.
- Landed cost per usable kg = Total landed cost ÷ Usable kg.
When we do this, price choices become obvious within minutes.
What goes into CIF landed cost for Indonesian vegetables?
You’ll want to model:
- Product cost: FOB Indonesia (factory + export packing + inland to port + export docs if included).
- Ocean freight and insurance: reefer for fresh/frozen, dry for dehydrated.
- Origin/terminal fees: THC, VGM, port charges.
- Destination costs you typically add next: import duty/tax, port/terminal, customs broker, inspection, and first-mile delivery from port to your DC if you need a DAP view.
FOB vs CIF Indonesia in one line: FOB ends when the goods are loaded on the vessel in Indonesia. CIF includes main carriage and insurance to your destination port. We often quote both so you can choose the freight strategy.
What’s a reasonable reefer freight assumption from Jakarta in 2025?
We’re seeing continued volatility on Asia–Europe and Middle East lanes. For modeling, these ballparks keep most teams out of trouble:
- Jakarta to EU port (40’ reefer, full container): roughly USD 3,500–6,000 per box depending on season and space. On a 24 MT net load, that’s about $0.15–$0.25/kg.
- Jakarta to Jebel Ali/Dubai (40’ reefer): roughly USD 1,500–3,000 per box. About $0.06–$0.12/kg at 24 MT net. Always sanity-check with a current spot quote before committing. A 20–30% swing in freight can flip your decision.
Converting fresh, frozen, and dehydrated to usable kilograms
Here’s the thing. Two hidden drivers change the outcome more than list price: moisture and trim.
Fresh trim and wastage guides we use with buyers (typical ranges, adjust for grade/spec):
- Carrots: 18–28% trim/wastage (tops, tails, peel, breakage).
- Onions/shallots: 12–18% (outer skin, root, top).
- Radish: 10–15% (tops, tails).
- Leafy greens (e.g., spinach): 25–35% including shrink. Usable yield (fresh) = 1 − trim% − expected wastage%.
Frozen adjustments:
- Glaze: 2–6% is common on IQF. Usable yield = 1 − glaze% − handling loss%.
- Spec matters: edamame in pod is ready-to-serve as a snack, but if you need kernels only, edible yield is roughly 30–40%. Clarify your application to avoid surprises.
- For export-grade IQF like our Premium Frozen Okra or Premium Frozen Sweet Corn, we model glaze 2–4% and handling loss near 0–1%.
Dehydrated conversion: use solids.
- Fresh-equivalent kg = Dried kg × (1 − M_dried) ÷ (1 − M_fresh) Where M is moisture fraction. It’s a rehydration yield calculator based on solids, not guesswork.
- Quick benchmarks we use:
- Onions/shallots: fresh moisture ~88–89%, dried moisture 6–12%. Rehydration ratio ≈ 1:7.5 to 1:9.
- Carrots: fresh ~88–90%, dried 6–10%. Ratio ≈ 1:8 to 1:10.
- Spinach/kale: fresh ~90–92%, dried 4–6%. Ratio ≈ 1:10 to 1:12.
If you don’t know exact moisture, start with the midpoints above, then refine after COA.
Practical takeaway: Frozen usually wins on texture and prep labor. Dehydrated often wins on freight efficiency and shelf life for sauces, soups, and blends. Fresh can be best on price in-season but suffers from trim and shrink if your operation isn’t fast.
Worked examples you can copy
Numbers below are illustrative for method only. Plug your own quotes and duties.
Example 1: Dehydrated shallot 12% moisture to fresh-equivalent price
- Offer: Dried shallot flakes, FOB Indonesia = $8.00/kg. Moisture 12%.
- Assume CIF adders (ocean + insurance + origin terminal) for a consolidated shipment ≈ $0.50/kg. So CIF price ≈ $8.50/kg.
- Fresh shallot moisture assumed 89%.
- Fresh-equivalent factor = (1 − 0.12) ÷ (1 − 0.89) = 0.88 ÷ 0.11 = 8.0.
- Fresh-equivalent price before duty = $8.50 ÷ 8.0 = $1.06 per kg.
- Duty sensitivity: At 0% duty, stays $1.06/kg. At 8% on the CIF value, effective increases to ≈ $1.15/kg fresh-equivalent. Takeaway: Dehydrated shallot can price very competitively against fresh on a solids basis for sauces and spice blends. It won’t replicate fresh slice texture in salads, but for cooked applications it’s often the cost winner.
Example 2: Frozen green beans vs fresh carrots on usable kg
Different veg, same method. This shows why format can matter more than headline price.
- Frozen green beans, IQF, CIF EU = $1.80/kg, glaze 3%, handling loss 1%. Usable yield = 96%.
- Landed cost per usable kg = $1.80 ÷ 0.96 = $1.875/kg.
- Fresh carrots, CIF GCC = $0.52/kg, trim 20%, shrink 3%. Usable yield = 77%.
- Landed cost per usable kg = $0.52 ÷ 0.77 = $0.675/kg. Takeaway: Even with frozen’s convenience, a sturdy fresh item with low cost and manageable trim can be far cheaper per usable kg. If you need pre-cut carrots with tight specs, you might instead consider IQF blends like our Frozen Mixed Vegetables to trade a higher price for predictable yield and labor savings.
Example 3: How many kg dried equals 1 kg fresh?
Use the solids formula and solve for dried kg.
- Example with dried spinach, M_dried = 5%. Fresh spinach M_fresh = 91%.
- 1 kg fresh solids = 0.09 kg solids.
- Dried kg needed = 0.09 ÷ 0.95 = 0.0947 kg. So about 95 grams dry equals 1 kg fresh spinach by solids. That’s a 1:10.6 ratio. When building sauces or green pastes, it’s incredibly space-efficient in freight.
Two easy wins most teams miss
- Always remove glaze from frozen pricing. We’ve seen 3 out of 5 cost models underestimate by 3–5% simply because glaze wasn’t backed out. Our Premium Frozen Edamame and Frozen Paprika (Bell Peppers) specs state glaze targets for exactly this reason.
- Model shelf-life wastage. Fresh buyers who ignore a 2–5% write-off end up chasing savings that aren’t real. For fresh roots like Carrots (Fresh Export Grade) and Beetroot (Fresh Export Grade), we guide importers on realistic shrink assumptions by route and season.
Container load and pack size effects on per-kg price
- Full 40’ reefer loads spread freight best. At 24 MT net, each $1,000 change in ocean freight moves your per-kg cost by about $0.042. Part loads can erase the value of a sharp FOB.
- Retail vs foodservice pack. A 400 g retail IQF pack can carry $0.10–$0.30/kg more in materials and handling vs 10 kg bulk. If you’re a manufacturer, buy bulk specs like our Premium Frozen Potatoes cuts to keep unit costs tight.
Is frozen or dehydrated cheaper per usable kg in 2025?
It depends on application and duty. Generally:
- Dehydrated wins for high-water vegetables used in cooked or blended products. Huge rehydration ratios and cheap freight per solids.
- Frozen wins when texture and cut spec matter, or when you need labor savings and near-zero trim.
- Fresh wins when CIF pricing is low in season, you can process quickly, and trim/shrink is controlled. Items like Red Radish, Onion, or Tomatoes are strong candidates. Use the same calculator and you’ll see the crossover point clearly.
Quick formulas you can paste into your sheet
- Fresh-equivalent factor (dehydrated): (1 − M_dried) ÷ (1 − M_fresh)
- Usable yield, fresh: 1 − trim% − wastage%
- Usable yield, frozen: 1 − glaze% − handling loss%
- Landed cost per usable kg: Total landed cost ÷ (Gross kg × Usable yield) If you want our ready-to-use template with default moisture and trim assumptions for Indonesian produce, reach out and we’ll share a one-pager you can customize for your SKUs. Need help with your specific project? Contact us on whatsapp.
What’s interesting is how fast decisions become obvious when every format is compared on the same footing. Try the method with two or three items today. And if you want to see export-ready specs you can plug into your model, you can browse and shortlist here: View our products.