Why we are not giving you a top-five import table

Every other guide in this series opens with import values by country. For ajwain we cannot, and the reason matters commercially.

Ajwain has no dedicated subheading in the Harmonized System. In the Indian tariff it is classified at 0910.99.14 — inside the heading for “ginger, saffron, turmeric (curcuma), thyme, bay leaves, curry and other spices”, under “other spices : other : seed : ajwain”. At the six-digit level that resolves to 0910.99, a residual bucket shared with a long list of unrelated goods. No official trade statistic separates ajwain from the rest of that bucket, so any country ranking built from customs data is describing something other than ajwain.

The only country-level evidence available is shipment-level bill of lading data, which captures a sample of movements rather than the whole trade. One such dataset, current to October 2026 and drawn from records between January 2024 and June 2025, contained 79 carom seed import shipments in total:

India was the leading origin in the same dataset, with 38 of the recorded shipments, roughly 56 per cent.

Treat those numbers as a weak signal, not a market size. Seventy-nine shipments is a thin sample for a global spice trade, bill of lading coverage is uneven between countries, and a shipment count says nothing about tonnage or value. We are showing you the evidence we actually have rather than dressing up an estimate, and if anyone quotes you a precise ajwain import ranking in dollars, ask them which customs code it came from.

The Annex II problem, and why organic does not exempt you

This is the part that costs money, and it is far better defined than the trade data.

Ajwain sits under CN 0910. The India entry for that heading is in Annex II, Part 1 of Regulation (EU) 2019/1793, in the consolidated text as it stands at 18 February 2026. The entry reads “Ginger, saffron, turmeric (curcuma), thyme, bay leaves, curry and other spices (Food – dried spices)”, CN 0910, hazard pesticide residues with a footnote covering ethylene oxide, at a frequency of 20 per cent identity and physical checks. There is no India entry for 0910 in Annex I.

Annex II is not simply a higher check rate. It is the special entry conditions tier, and the difference changes your lead times and your costs.

None of this is waived by an organic certificate. The regulation lists by CN code and country of origin; organic status is not a category it recognises. Your organic ajwain needs the complete Annex II file in addition to its NPOP transaction certificate and its EU certificate of inspection.

The four-month clock is the item that catches people. The certificate is issued at origin before the goods move; if a vessel is rolled or a transhipment slips and the consignment reaches the border control post after expiry, the document no longer does its job. Build margin into the shipping schedule and settle in the contract who pays for re-certification if the sailing changes.

The Indian side: Spices Board testing, and an honest gap

There is a second layer, and it sits at origin rather than at the border.

Spices Board of India Circular No. 05/2022-23, dated 27 May 2022 and effective from 1 June 2022, makes sampling and testing mandatory for listed spices going to listed destinations under the Board’s Quality Evaluation System. It requires a cleared analytical report from Board laboratories, and provides for Board-issued certificates for ethylene oxide and aflatoxin where applicable. For the EU, an official certificate from the Board for ethylene oxide is required before clearance at EU ports.

The circular’s ethylene oxide table for the EU is expressed by heading, and covers HS 0909 and HS 0910 — the latter described as “saffron, turmeric, thyme, bay leaves, curry and other spices”.

Ajwain is not named anywhere in the circular. The notice directs exporters to check CN codes to determine whether certification applies, but it does not state whether ajwain falls within the “other spices” wording for this purpose. We are telling you that plainly rather than asserting a position we cannot evidence. Before you book, have your exporter confirm with the Spices Board whether your specific consignment requires a cleared report and an ETO certificate. The answer determines your lead time, and discovering it at the port is the expensive way to find out.

Thymol: the specification most ajwain contracts get wrong

Ajwain is bought for its aroma and, in the ingredient trade, for thymol. Both are properties of the essential oil, and this is where contracts go astray.

Ajwain seed typically carries around 2 to 5 per cent essential oil. Thymol is usually the principal component, at roughly 50 per cent of that oil — but the reported range across published studies runs from about 40 to 88 per cent. The main non-phenolic constituents, p-cymene and γ-terpinene, vary even more widely: one study reported p-cymene at 60.78 per cent and γ-terpinene at 22.26 per cent, another reported 15.6 and 11.9 per cent for the same two compounds.

Why that matters for your purchase order

Read those two paragraphs together and the trap is obvious. Total essential oil content and thymol content are two different specifications, and a lot can score well on the first while disappointing on the second. A seed with 4 per cent oil that is p-cymene dominant carries far less thymol than a seed with 3 per cent oil at the high end of the thymol range. If your contract says only “volatile oil 3% minimum”, you have specified the container and not the contents.

So specify both, each with its method: essential oil by steam distillation, and thymol as a percentage of the oil by gas chromatography, with the chromatogram rather than a summary line on the certificate of analysis. If thymol is what your product needs, put a thymol minimum in the contract and price against it. If aroma for culinary use is what you need, say so, because the two buy differently.

And as with every volatile-oil spice in this series: the oil is lost to heat, light and time. Agree whether the specification applies at shipment or at discharge, and specify packaging that protects it.

Specification: what to write into the contract

Acid-insoluble ash deserves a line of its own on a small, light seed that is cleaned rather than washed. It is the practical measure of mineral contamination — grit, sand and soil carried through from the threshing floor — and on ajwain it is a more useful quality indicator than total ash.

Fumigation, and what organic leaves you with

Organic standards prohibit synthetic chemical fumigants and ethylene oxide, and ethylene oxide is prohibited on food in the EU regardless of organic status. That matters doubly here, because ethylene oxide is the hazard named in the footnote to the CN 0910 India entry. The permitted routes for microbiological and insect control are validated saturated steam treatment, controlled atmosphere and carbon dioxide treatment, operated in India under the National Standards for Phytosanitary Measures, NSPM-25.

For ajwain the steam route has the same cost it has for fennel, and arguably a sharper one. The product is bought for volatile oil, and steam is what removes volatile oil. A process validated for log reduction without a measurement of its effect on essential oil and thymol is half validated. Ask for the validation report, and ask for the oil and thymol assays taken after treatment rather than on the untreated lot.

The three layers of organic paperwork

Where our ajwain comes from, and for once it is close by

Ajwain is grown on a large scale in Rajasthan, Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh, and on a smaller scale in Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and Karnataka.

We have been explicit elsewhere in this series when a crop sits far from us — our turmeric comes from Meghalaya and Kerala, our basmati from Punjab and Haryana, and in both cases the chain of custody is long and we said so. Ajwain is different. Gujarat is one of the three principal producing states, and we are a Gujarat exporter. That gives us a shorter chain, direct relationships at the trading end, and the same regulatory environment as the grower.

It does not exempt us from the questions. Ask us which district, which producer group and which season, exactly as you would ask anyone else. Proximity makes a supplier easier to verify; it does not make verification unnecessary.

Organic is not an analytical zero

Organic certification governs what may be applied. It does not promise that nothing will ever be detected.

Drift from neighbouring conventional plots, carry-over on shared drying yards, shared cleaning and grading lines and shared transport all produce low-level detections in genuinely organic material. On a positive result the question a competent buyer asks is not “is this organic?” but “at what concentration, and is that concentration consistent with carry-over or with application?” Carry-over sits in parts per billion. A result in parts per million is a traceability question and should be investigated as one.

For ajwain specifically, with ethylene oxide named as the listed hazard and a residue definition that sums ethylene oxide and 2-chloroethanol under a single name, ask the laboratory for the split between the two rather than accepting the sum. Most methods can distinguish them.

What to ask before you place the order

1. Confirmation that the supplier can produce a complete Annex II file: official certificate, ISO/IEC 17025 accredited analysis results on the actual consignment, and a matching identification code.
2. The issue date of the official certificate, checked against your expected arrival date for the four-month validity.
3. A written answer on whether Spices Board Circular 05/2022-23 applies to your consignment, confirmed with the Board rather than assumed.
4. Essential oil percentage by steam distillation and thymol as a percentage of the oil by GC, with the chromatogram.
5. Acid-insoluble ash, as the practical measure of grit and soil carry-through.
6. The microbiological treatment used, its validation report, and the oil and thymol assays taken after treatment.
7. The NPOP transaction certificate for the specific lot, verified directly with the certifying body.
8. District, producer group and season.

Frequently asked questions

Why is there no reliable import ranking for carom seed?

Because ajwain has no dedicated subheading in the Harmonized System. In the Indian tariff it sits at 0910.99.14, inside the heading for ginger, saffron, turmeric, thyme, bay leaves, curry and other spices. Official statistics therefore aggregate it with unrelated goods and no country-level ajwain ranking can be derived from them. The only country data available comes from shipment-level bill of lading records, which cover a small fraction of actual trade.

What EU import regime applies to carom seed from India?

Ajwain falls under CN 0910, and the India entry for CN 0910 sits in Annex II Part 1 of Regulation (EU) 2019/1793 for pesticide residues at a 20 per cent frequency of identity and physical checks. Annex II is the special entry conditions tier: every consignment must travel with sampling and analysis results produced on that consignment by the Indian competent authority from an ISO/IEC 17025 accredited laboratory, an official certificate on the Annex IV model valid for no more than four months, and a matching identification code on all three documents.

Does an organic certificate exempt ajwain from those requirements?

No. Regulation (EU) 2019/1793 lists goods by CN code and country of origin, not by organic status. An organic consignment of ajwain needs the full Annex II file in addition to its NPOP transaction certificate and its EU certificate of inspection. The organic paperwork and the border control paperwork are separate systems and neither discharges the other.

What thymol content should organic ajwain deliver?

Ajwain seed typically carries around 2 to 5 per cent essential oil, and thymol is usually the main component at roughly 50 per cent of that oil. Reported values across studies range widely, from about 40 to 88 per cent. The non-phenolic fraction, principally p-cymene and γ-terpinene, varies even more. Specify essential oil content and thymol content separately, each with its method, because a lot can be high in total oil and still be thin on thymol.

Does the Spices Board mandatory testing scheme cover ajwain?

Spices Board of India Circular No. 05/2022-23, in force since 1 June 2022, makes sampling and testing mandatory for listed spices going to listed destinations and provides for Board-issued certificates for ethylene oxide and aflatoxin. The ethylene oxide table for the EU is expressed by heading and covers HS 0910, which includes other spices. Ajwain is not named explicitly in the circular, and the notice directs exporters to check CN codes to determine whether certification applies. Confirm the position for your consignment with the Spices Board before booking rather than assuming either answer.

• Because ajwain has no dedicated subheading in the Harmonized System. In the Indian tariff it sits at 0910.99.14, inside the heading for ginger, saffron, turmeric, thyme, bay leaves, curry and other spices. Official statistics therefore aggregate it with unrelated goods and no country-level ajwain ranking can be derived from them. The only country data available comes from shipment-level bill of lading records, which cover a small fraction of actual trade.
• Ajwain falls under CN 0910, and the India entry for CN 0910 sits in Annex II Part 1 of Regulation (EU) 2019/1793 for pesticide residues at a 20 per cent frequency of identity and physical checks. Annex II is the special entry conditions tier: every consignment must travel with sampling and analysis results produced on that consignment by the Indian competent authority from an ISO/IEC 17025 accredited laboratory, an official certificate on the Annex IV model valid for no more than four months, and a matching identification code on all three documents.
• No. Regulation (EU) 2019/1793 lists goods by CN code and country of origin, not by organic status. An organic consignment of ajwain needs the full Annex II file in addition to its NPOP transaction certificate and its EU certificate of inspection. The organic paperwork and the border control paperwork are separate systems and neither discharges the other.
• Ajwain seed typically carries around 2 to 5 per cent essential oil, and thymol is usually the main component at roughly 50 per cent of that oil. Reported values across studies range widely, from about 40 to 88 per cent. The non-phenolic fraction, principally p-cymene and γ-terpinene, varies even more. Specify essential oil content and thymol content separately, each with its method, because a lot can be high in total oil and still be thin on thymol.

Why these five languages, and which of them the data actually supports. English and Arabic come straight from the evidence above: the United States accounts for about a third of recorded shipments on its own, and together with Tanzania, Ghana, the Philippines, the Marshall Islands and Panama — all markets where the import trade is conducted in English — the English-language share of recorded movements is around half. Arabic covers the United Arab Emirates at number two, the Gulf re-export hub that serves both the South Asian diaspora and East Africa. The other three are judgement, and we would rather say so: German and Dutch because that is where the European organic spice and botanical ingredient trade clears, and Indonesian for the Southeast Asian cluster of Indonesia, the Philippines and Vietnam, which together match the UAE in recorded shipments. This is the first Indonesian article in this series. If your market is not among these, tell us and we will write it.