Hi All,
What is the Optimal Quantity for Sales? (Can be Fruits, Vegetables etc)
I am asking this question for two reasons. One, whether the buyer will be interested in procuring small quantities or buyers approaches only if there is a minimum quantity for sales. Second, whether it is feasible for us to even consider marketing ourselves, considering aspects like transportation, labour etc.
Regards
Padmanabhan Ganesan
9840807817
Doubt there is any thumb rule but more you produce, the better it could be in terms of minimizing your transport & labor costs. On the flip side if you are selling (in large quantity) what everyone is selling, you may have to live with lower prices. Basically, it depends on what product and the quantity you have.
To optimize quantity for sales you need : Fixed demand, fixed selling price, fixed input costs. Unless you meant some kind of contractual obligation, its very difficult to figure out what optimal quantity should be.
Largely depends on what you think “Minimum” is. 1 kg? 100 kg?. Lets say you are producing some exotic vegetable which no one else if offering in the market and assuming there is a demand for it, you should have no problems selling it irrespective of the quantity. In india at least you will find traders/middlemen who will buy just about any quantity so long as they can make some money in between and YES there are some traders who usually prefer to make big deals. So maybe it depends on what kind of a market you are playing in.
Yes it could be feasible depending on how far you are from your target market. If you are a small farmer then you have the “farmer’s market” (daily/weekly) where you can sell your produce direct to the consumer. If your volumes are decent then you could approach traders/middlemen directly or you can be a distributor yourself. When I go around markets in mumbai, I routinely ask traders if they will buy from me. The big traders with lots of rolling money shoot off various questions about quantity, quality, frequency, credit terms, where my farm is etc etc and once they have the answers, they are happy to shake my hand and say “Saaab, Maal daalo. Hum log bechega”. I dont have a farm yet but still not bad to talk 
Hi Ganeshan,
Its quite a generic question i.e. difficult to have one answer. However for each product type, try to see the cost of product (specially logistics) and how the arrangement could be. for example if we have less than a trolley for sugarcane or less than a min-truck for vegetables then your cost would be very high and of course margin would shrink.
Typically cash crop should be grown in big quantity to make commercial sense i.e. if you grow cotton few hundred tonnes would be a good number. However for growing mushrooms or say cardamom few KGs itself would give you good returns.
Would be good if you could share the crops you are planning so that we all could give you some specific answer
cheers
aditya
Hi All,
To clarify my question and make it more clear, the topic is related to the Fruits and Vegetables.
How much Quantity is preferred by vendors? Is it 100 Kgs or 1000 Kgs for Fruits like Mango which comes in a single season? Similarly, how much Quantity is preferred by vendors for the Vegetables? Is it 10 Kgs or 100 Kgs or more/less?
Hope this clarifies.
Note: While planting the Fruit Trees & Vegetables, I can plan on the right amount of trees to be grown and this is the reason I am asking this question.
Regards
padmanabhan_ganesan@yahoo.co.in
9840807817
It all depends on the vendor strength, his market reach and his economic conditions doesnt it?
A big vendor in a bustling market with lot of regular customers may prefer to buy 1000 kgs of mangoes from you when in season because he knows he can sell it / hol d it etc
his neighbour vendor may want to do the same but he may settle for 200kgs as he does not have the money or maybe capacity to hold / buy / sell huge stock
there is no right answer for right amount of trees…lets say you harvest 1000 kgs of mango in a season. hook or by crook you either have to sell it or eat it
if i am doing major planting of a single fruit, i’d better be using a fruit that has good demand and minimal problems to sell / store etc
so better to base your plan on what sells more easily as this 1000 kg can be sold to different types of vendors in different volumes based on their demand (as long as you can sell it and at a reasonable rate based on your intended profitability)
thats my two pence
Hi all,
The plan is to have more diversification and not depend on one single crop/plant/fruit/veg etc. But here the catch is if too much diversification is there, then you will have less quantity to produce/sell.
If I know the minimum quantity for any product to sell, it can plan things accordingly.
Regards
padmanabhan_ganesan@yahoo.co.in
9840807817
Ganesan,
Agricultural markets are perfectly competitive. Given their nature, it is very difficult to determine optimum quantity to produce . SO you maybe chasing wild geese here. Suggest that you grow what best grows on your land given the climatic conditions and try to find a market for it. I’m sure you will find a market but what price will prevail will mainly depend on the overall supply of the same produce in the market.