Matcha MOQ, lead time and Incoterms

Most matcha pages sell a grade. Very few tell you the three numbers that actually decide whether you can buy from them: the minimum order quantity you have to commit to, the lead time from order to delivery, and the Incoterms that set who pays for freight and who carries the risk in transit. Those three terms are the difference between a supplier that fits your line and one that looks good on paper but cannot actually serve a café group, a packer, or an importer building a private label.

This page is written for the buyer who has roughly settled on matcha and now needs to procure it — someone comparing suppliers on terms, not tasting notes. It lays out how MATSU handles matcha MOQ, matcha lead time, and matcha Incoterms producer-direct from Japan, with the price bands and the ~30 kg per-shipment ceiling that sit alongside them. If you are still choosing a grade for a specific drink or dish, start with the grade architecture linked below; here we assume the grade question is close to answered and the job is supply logistics.

Why do MOQ, lead time, and Incoterms decide a matcha supplier?

A grade can be excellent and still be unbuyable if the commercial terms do not fit your stage. A supplier with a 25 kg minimum is useless to a single-site café; a supplier who is vague about who carries freight and customs leaves you unable to compare landed cost; a supplier who is vague on lead time leaves you ordering blind and running short. The three terms in this guide are the ones a procurement conversation lives or dies on, and they are worth defining plainly before the figures:

• MOQ (minimum order quantity). The smallest quantity a supplier will sell in one order. A low MOQ lets you trial without committing a whole line; a high one forces you to over-buy before you know the powder works for you.
• Lead time. The elapsed time from order confirmation to delivery at your door. It sets your reorder point — the stock level at which you must place the next order to avoid running out.
• Incoterms. The standard trade terms — FOB Japan is the one that matters here — that define, at each point in transit, who arranges shipping, who pays for it, and who bears the risk if something goes wrong.

What ties all three together is the supply chain behind them. Matcha is usually sold three or four hands deep — a regional cooperative, an export trading house, an importer of record, a distributor — and each hand sets its own minimums, adds its own transit leg, and quotes its own terms, which is why the numbers get murky. Producer-direct collapses that: grower-level sourcing through MATSU, without the usual chain of trading houses, importers, and distributors. The lots are selected by tasting fresh leaf each season under multi-year arrangements with growers in Uji (Kyoto), Kagoshima, and Izumo (Shimane), so the MOQ, the lead time, and the Incoterms are set by one relationship rather than negotiated across a chain.

What is the MOQ for matcha, and how low can a first order be?

The MOQ is the first filter a buyer applies, because it decides whether a supplier fits your stage at all. MATSU's practical first wholesale order is 1 kg per grade. That figure is set deliberately low — roughly two to four weeks of a single café's latte-rail volume — so you can place real production stock without taking on a drum that loses its colour in storage before you finish it.

Below 1 kg, the point is evaluation rather than production. A $129 tasting kit of three flagship grades lets you confirm the actual powder against your own milk, recipe, or process before you commit a kilogram. This is the honest version of a sample program: you taste the real grade you would receive, not a spec sheet for a powder you never see. The $129 is credited in full to a first order of 1 kg or more, so a serious evaluation costs nothing once you buy.

How do the order stages step up, from kit to standing order?

A good program lets you trial without committing a line, then rewards cadence once volume is established. The stages MATSU works to, from a first taste to a standing account, are set out below with the quantity and the pricing treatment attached to each — so you can see the whole ladder before you step onto the first rung.

Two things to read carefully in that table. First, the 5 kg discount threshold is per order, not per month, so a buyer placing a single 5 kg order earns it without committing to a recurring volume. Second, the jump from a first order to a standing order is where the terms change most: a 10 kg+ standing order on a monthly or quarterly cadence holds the grade for your account, runs 10% off list (15% at 25 kg), and — as the lead-time section below explains — ships on priority so supply stops being a decision you re-make every cycle.

How much matcha can ship in a single order?

The ceiling matters as much as the floor. A single MATSU shipment runs up to roughly 30 kg producer-direct. That is an honest working limit, not a headline number — it reflects what one producer-direct shipment moves cleanly by express courier with the paperwork attached, rather than a warehouse promising any tonnage on request.

A requirement beyond ~30 kg is not turned away; it is scheduled across multiple shipments against a grade held for your account, and confirmed case by case with Incoterms set at order. Scheduling against a held grade is deliberately better than one oversized lot: the input stays consistent across deliveries, the supply is tied to your name through a busy season, and each shipment arrives inside its open window rather than one drum aging on your shelf. If you are planning volume at that scale, the right move is to start the conversation early so the shipment cadence is built around your production calendar.

What is the lead time for matcha from Japan?

Lead time is the number buyers underestimate most, and the one that decides whether a line ever runs short. Producer-direct from Japan, the figures the program works to are these:

• Order to delivery: 2–3 weeks. Producer-direct by DHL express, tracked door to door; longer for some destinations and certain customs profiles.
• Tasting kit: about 1–2 weeks. The fastest way to get the actual powder in your hands before committing.
• Standing-order priority. A held grade on a recurring order ships on priority lead time, so a multi-site or foodservice account is not re-queued each cycle.
• Storage buys back the window. Sealed, cool, and out of light, matcha holds 12–24 months from milling; once opened, colour and aroma are best within 6–12 months.

The takeaway is the same one that keeps any imported ingredient stable: build the 2–3 week window into your reorder point rather than ordering only when stock runs low, and a standing order with a held grade removes the question entirely. Wholesale matcha survives as a line item when the supply rhythm is boring — predictable grade, predictable colour, predictable arrival — and lead time is the variable that turns boring into reliable.

What does FOB Japan mean for a matcha order?

Incoterms are the standardised trade terms that answer one question at every point in transit: who arranges the shipping, who pays for it, and who carries the risk if something goes wrong. MATSU keeps this simple — every quote is FOB Japan, and that single term decides how you compare a price and how you plan a landing.

FOB — Free On Board

Under FOB Japan, the quoted price covers the goods prepared and handed over for export in Japan. From that hand-off point onward, you arrange and pay for freight and insurance, and you carry the risk in transit. FOB is the cleaner comparison whether or not you run your own freight desk, because it isolates the price of the matcha itself from the cost of moving it. MATSU quotes list pricing FOB Japan for exactly this reason — it is the honest base figure before freight is layered on.

Who carries freight, duty, and clearance

Because the quote is FOB Japan, everything past the export hand-off sits on the buyer side: freight, insurance in transit, import duty and tax, and customs clearance. In practice most buyers who want door-to-door delivery ship on their own DHL or courier account, or hand the freight to a broker they already work with — the same account then carries the shipment through customs at destination. That keeps the matcha price fixed and lets you control the cost and route of moving it rather than having it bundled into a quote you cannot unpick.

Two honest notes sit under an FOB order. Destination-side import requirements are the buyer's to confirm with a customs broker for their own country — the United States may add buyer-side steps such as FSVP, other markets set their own food-import rules, and that step belongs on your side of the border, not the supplier's. A fuller walkthrough sits in how to import matcha from Japan. And whatever ships, ships with English commercial paperwork — a commercial invoice and a packing list — so your import desk can process it without a chain of emails.

How do price bands and volume discounts work?

MOQ, lead time, and Incoterms set the shape of an order; price sets its size. MATSU matcha runs $390 to $1,050 per kilogram FOB Japan — $39 to $105 per 100 g — across the eight grade architecture. Where a buyer lands inside that range is a function of application, not prestige: a blending or latte-rail powder sits low in the range, a signature or straight-usucha grade sits high.

List price is the starting point, not the transacted price. Volume discounts begin at 5 kg per order (5% off list), rise to 10% off at 10 kg with a six-month price lock, and 15% off at 25 kg; 50 kg+ is custom-priced. The lock matters as much as the discount: it removes the FX and harvest-season volatility that otherwise makes matcha hard to cost across a quarter, so a buyer running matcha as a line item can hold a fixed cost while the market moves. The tiering above shows how the discount attaches to each stage.

How should you plan a first order around these terms?

Put the three terms together and a first order plans itself. The sequence below is the one MATSU works to, and it is short enough to see whole before you start rather than discovering it one email at a time.

1. Confirm the grade against your own process

Order the $129 tasting kit of three flagship grades and bench-test against your own milk, recipe, or production. The $129 is credited to a first order of 1 kg or more, so the test costs nothing once you commit. If you are still mapping grade to use, the grade recommendation tool returns a shortlist from your primary application, volume, and destination.

2. Size the first order to throughput, not to a discount band

Start from 1 kg per grade and size against your real weekly volume, using the order-stage table above. A first order at list price that you finish inside the open window beats a bigger order chasing a discount that ages on the shelf.

3. Plan freight around an FOB Japan quote

Your quote is FOB Japan, so line up how the box will move: your own DHL or courier account for door-to-door delivery, or a broker you already work with. Build the 2–3 week producer-direct lead time into your reorder point, and confirm any destination-side import requirements with your own customs broker.

4. Set a standing order once the grade is established

Once a grade is proven in your line, a 10 kg+ standing order on a monthly or quarterly cadence holds the grade for your account, reaches the 10% discount band (15% at 25 kg) with a six-month price lock, and ships on priority lead time. This is the point at which matcha stops being a repeated procurement exercise and becomes a predictable line item. You can see how MATSU frames producer-direct sourcing and quality before committing to a single kilogram, or request the professional catalogue for full specs and pricing across all eight grades.

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