A canned food quotation from China is a specification document first and a price line second. Compare two quotes without matching the specification field by field and you are not comparing prices — you are comparing different products. A usable quote fixes category, cut or form, can size, drained weight, packing medium, concentration where relevant, cans per carton, lid type, labelling, palletisation, Incoterm, lead time and documents. Two quotes that look different usually describe different products. This guide walks through each field, shows what specified rows look like using real can-size data, and closes with a checklist you can apply.
Why Comparing a Single Number Fails
A canned food price is the result of a specification, not a substitute for one. "Canned mushrooms, standard can, best price" tells a buyer nothing. Button and king oyster mushrooms are different products at different cost levels; a 425 g can and an 800 g can hold different amounts of drained solids; whole and sliced fill a can differently; a brine pack and a syrup pack are not interchangeable even when the closed can looks identical on a pallet. When two suppliers return different numbers, the gap is usually explained by two or three specification fields rather than by commercial generosity. So never compare quotes until the specifications match field for field: a single number cannot describe a specification, and the price you accept is only as good as the field list underneath it. Buyers who skip this step meet the difference later, in a warehouse, when cartons arrive at a drained weight or pack style they did not expect.
The Fields Every Usable Canned Food Quote Must Carry
A complete quote is a set of fields, not a paragraph of reassurance. Each field below changes either what you receive or what you pay. A missing field is an open variable that gets settled by whoever packs the goods, not by you.
Product identity: category, species, cut and form
Category alone is not enough. "Fish" might mean mackerel in brine or tuna in brine or oil; "mushrooms" might mean button, whole or sliced, or king oyster; "beans" might mean chickpeas, red kidney, white kidney or green peas. Name the type plus the cut or form: whole, sliced, chunks, flakes, kernels, baby corn. Two lines that both read "tuna" but differ on cut are not comparable.
Can size, net weight and drained weight
State the can size and the drained weight together: drained weight is the figure a food-service buyer portions from. Canned fruit: 425 g with 230 g drained, 820 g with 480 g drained, 3,000 g with 1,800 g drained. Beans — chickpeas, red kidney, white kidney, green peas — 425 g or 400 g with 240 g drained. Corn kernels 425 g or 400 g with 240 g drained; baby corn 425 g with 200 g drained. Button mushrooms 425 g at 180 g drained whole or 800 g at 400 g sliced; king oyster 400 g at 300 g drained. Mackerel in brine 425 g at 200 g drained; tuna in brine or oil 140 g at 92 g drained. Tomato paste is the exception: drained weight does not apply, and the specification is written on concentration instead.
Packing medium, fill and concentration
Syrup for fruit, brine for fish and vegetables, oil for tuna, and a stated concentration for tomato paste are part of the product, not decoration. Brine-pack and oil-pack mackerel in the same can size are different items. Have the medium printed on the quote line rather than agreed verbally, and for paste require the concentration you need to be confirmed on the quote.
Case configuration: cans per carton and cartons per shipment
Carton count sits under every landed-cost calculation: 425 g fruit cans are 24 per carton, 820 g and 3,000 g fruit are 12. Beans at 425 g or 400 g, corn kernels, baby corn and mushrooms are 24 per carton; mackerel at 425 g is 24; tuna at 140 g is 24 for chunks and 48 for flakes. Tomato paste runs from 70 g at 50 per carton to 2,200 g at 6.
Lid type, labelling and shipping marks
Easy-open ends and plain ends are not priced identically, so the quote should say which applies to which can size. Labelling is normally buyer brand or private label: state who supplies the artwork, when it must be approved and how many versions are included. Left unspecified, you cannot tell a retail-ready pack from a bulk pack.
What a Vague Quote Says vs What a Usable Quote Says
The middle column is what a weak quote actually gives you; the right column is the minimum you should insist on.
| Field | Vague quote | Usable quote |
|---|---|---|
| Product identity | "Canned mushrooms" | "Button mushrooms, whole, in brine" |
| Can size | "Standard can" | "425 g can" |
| Drained weight | Not stated | "180 g drained" |
| Packing medium | Not stated | "Brine" or "syrup" or "oil", named per line |
| Concentration | Not stated | Stated concentration for tomato paste |
| Carton count | Not stated | "24 cans per carton" |
| Lid | "Normal lid" | "Easy-open end" or "plain end", per can size |
| Labelling | "Your brand" | Buyer brand / private label, artwork from buyer |
| Palletisation | Not stated | Cases per pallet and pallet pattern stated |
| Incoterm | Not stated | FOB, CFR or CIF with named port |
| Lead time | "Soon" | Counted from order plus artwork approval |
| Documents | Not stated | Each document marked included or excluded |
Two offers can look identical on the left and differ underneath, which is why a single number misleads.
A Worked Example: Reading Two Quote Lines Side by Side
Take two lines that both arrive as "canned fruit". Quote A: canned fruit, 425 g, in syrup, price per carton. Quote B: canned fruit, 425 g can with 230 g drained, in syrup, easy-open end, 24 cans per carton. A leaves drained weight, medium, lid and carton count open; B pins all four. On carton price alone, A can look better while describing less product per carton or a different pack style. Same test, fish: A says "canned mackerel"; B says "mackerel in brine, 425 g can, 200 g drained, 24 cans per carton". For tuna, the usable line reads "tuna in brine or oil, 140 g can, 92 g drained, 24 cans per carton for chunks, 48 for flakes". For paste it states can size, concentration and carton count — 400 g at 24 per carton — with no drained weight. Ten minutes per supplier removes most of the ambiguity that becomes a claim.
Incoterm, Lead Time, Documents and Commercial Conditions
Commercial terms decide where cost transfers and who controls the shipment, so they belong on the quote. State the Incoterm you want used — FOB, CFR or CIF with the named port — and require every supplier to quote on that basis; comparing an FOB offer with a CIF offer produces a number that means nothing. Ask for lead time counted from a defined point such as order confirmation plus artwork approval, since label approval often sits on the critical path. Ask how loading is planned: full container load, less than container load, or a mixed container combining categories. Ask which documents are included, which are charged separately, and how long the quote holds. Name your required set at enquiry stage — commonly the commercial invoice, packing list and bill of lading, plus any certificate your destination market requires — and treat anything outside it as a separate line. Requirements differ by destination and can change, so the document list belongs in the comparison.
A Comparison Checklist You Can Apply Today
- Send one identical specification sheet to every supplier: category, species, cut or form, can size, drained weight, medium, concentration, carton count, lid, labelling, palletisation, Incoterm, documents.
- Convert each returned quote into the table above and mark every blank field.
- Chase the blanks in writing before comparing anything. A blank is a variable, not a discount.
- Normalise the commercial base: same Incoterm, port, validity period and document set.
- Check pack style against price; easy-open ends, private-label artwork and printed cartons are production inputs.
- Compare per-can and per-carton economics, then check carton count against pallet and container planning.
- Ask for lead time from order confirmation plus artwork approval, and record that date.
- Note which specification version your price is tied to, so a later carton or lid change stays visible.
Applied consistently, this turns a stack of dissimilar documents into one comparison table. The lines it is built around are listed on the product range pages: canned fruit, canned fish, canned beans, canned mushrooms, canned corn and canned tomato, with OEM and private label, quality, export support and logistics covering the rest.
FAQ
What is the most important field in a canned food quote?
Drained weight, stated together with the can size. It is the field that most often differs between two quotes that look similar, and it decides how much product a food-service buyer can portion from each can.
Why do two quotes for the same canned product differ so much?
Usually because they describe different specifications rather than the same product at different prices. Cut or form, pack style, can size, drained weight, carton count, lid type and labelling each move the number.
How should tomato paste be quoted, given that drained weight does not apply?
Tomato paste is specified on concentration. A usable line names the can size, the concentration, the carton count and the lid type, and the specification set runs from 70 g at 50 per carton to 2,200 g at 6.
Should I ask for FOB, CFR or CIF pricing?
Ask for the Incoterm that matches how you want to control the shipment, and require every supplier to quote on the same basis: an FOB offer and a CIF offer cannot be compared directly.
What should a quote say about lead time?
It should state the lead time and the point from which it is counted. For private-label orders the practical starting point is order confirmation plus artwork approval.
Does carton count matter if the product is the same?
Yes. Cans per carton drives storage density, handling and container planning, so the same product at a different carton count is a different operational purchase even when the can and drained weight match.
If it would help to walk through a specification sheet for your own market, the contact page is the right place to start — send the product list you are buying and the pack style you need, and the comparison can begin from a fixed set of fields rather than from a price.