Dundicut vs Teja vs S17: Where Pakistani Red Chili Actually Stands Against Indian Varieties
Last month a buyer in Casablanca sent me a WhatsApp voice note at 2 AM. He wanted 3 containers of Dundicut but his broker in Mundra was quoting Teja at almost half the price. "Sufyan, are you sure this isn't the same chili with a different passport?"
It's not. And that question — which I get maybe twice a week now — is why I'm writing this.
Honestly, the Pakistani chili vs Indian chili conversation is messier than most spice buyers realize. The varieties don't map one-to-one. Heat units don't tell you the whole story. And the price gap between Dundicut, Teja, and S17 exists for reasons that go beyond simple supply and demand.
So let me break down what I actually see moving through Karachi Port versus what my counterparts are shipping out of Nhava Sheva and Chennai.
The three chilies, side by side
Dundicut is the round, stubby, cherry-shaped chili grown mostly around Kunri in Sindh. Kunri, by the way, is called the Chili Capital of Asia — the town produces roughly 85,000 tons in a normal season, though 2022's floods knocked that down badly and we're still seeing the aftershocks in pricing. Dundicut runs about 35,000 to 45,000 SHU (Scoville Heat Units). Color value sits at ASTA 70 to 90 depending on sun-drying conditions. Deep, brick-red. Not orangey.
Teja (S17) — and here's where buyers get confused — Teja and S17 are often used interchangeably in the Indian trade, but they're not identical. Teja is the hotter variety, grown mainly in Khammam and Warangal in Telangana. SHU on Teja can hit 75,000 to 90,000. That's roughly double Dundicut. ASTA color is lower though, usually 32 to 40. Thin-skinned. Long, pointed pods.
S17 proper is a Guntur-region cultivar, milder than Teja at around 35,000 to 42,000 SHU, with ASTA color closer to 55 to 65. It's what a lot of Indian exporters ship when the buyer says "medium heat, good color."
So already you can see — Dundicut and S17 are actually closer cousins than Dundicut and Teja. But they behave differently in a masala blend, and that matters.
Heat, color, and what buyers actually pay for
Here's the thing most first-time importers miss: SHU is not what determines price. Color is.
A Moroccan harissa producer and a Korean gochujang blender want two totally different things. The Korean buyer will pay a premium for ASTA 80+ even if the heat is moderate. The North African buyer wants punch — high SHU, color secondary. And then you've got the Gulf buyers (I ship a lot into Jebel Ali and Dammam) who want that dark red powder that looks rich in a spice souk display. Dundicut wins that visual test almost every time.
Current FOB Karachi pricing as of last week — Dundicut whole, stemless, sun-dried, moisture under 11%, is running $2,850 to $3,100 per metric ton depending on grade. Teja out of Nhava Sheva? Around $1,900 to $2,200. S17 sits between them at roughly $2,100 to $2,400.
That's a real gap. And buyers keep asking me to justify it.
Here's my honest answer: you're paying for color, for lower aflatoxin risk (Sindh's dry climate helps here — humidity in Andhra during drying season is a known aflatoxin trigger), and for the fact that Pakistani Dundicut supply is a fraction of Indian Teja supply. India exports something like 500,000+ tons of dry chili annually. Pakistan exports maybe 40,000 to 50,000 tons. Scarcity has a price.
But — and I'll admit this — Teja is a phenomenal chili for what it does. If your product needs raw heat and you're blending with paprika or another color-source chili anyway, Teja makes commercial sense. I've had buyers try to switch to Dundicut and come back to Teja because their end product didn't need ASTA 80.
I got this wrong early on, actually. When I started exporting spices in 2018, I pitched every buyer on Dundicut like it was automatically superior. It's not. It's superior for certain applications. A pickling plant in Sri Lanka doesn't need what a Turkish acuka producer needs.
What buyers should actually specify in their PO
Look, if you're sourcing red chili for the first time from Pakistan or India, stop asking for "grade A" and start asking for these five things:
- Variety by name — Dundicut, Teja, S17, Wonder Hot, whatever. Don't say "long red chili."
- ASTA color value — specify a minimum. 60, 70, 80. This is measurable in a lab.
- SHU range — give a band, not a single number.
- Moisture content — 10 to 11% is standard for export. Above 12% and you're inviting mold on a 30-day sea journey.
- Aflatoxin limit in ppb — EU wants under 10 ppb total. Middle East is often more lenient. Know your destination's rule before you order.
And ask for a pre-shipment sample. Not a photo. An actual courier sample. I send DHL samples to buyers in Rotterdam and Hamburg every month for exactly this reason — the buyer's QC lab tests it, signs off, and then we ship the container. Nobody's guessing.
One more thing on the red chili comparison export side — origin certificates matter more than they used to. Some buyers in the EU are now asking for GI-tagged Kunri Dundicut specifically, similar to how Guntur chili has its own GI status in India. If your end customer values provenance (private-label spice brands especially), that documentation is worth chasing.
The Moroccan buyer I mentioned at the start? He ended up taking one container of Dundicut and one of Teja. Blended them 60/40 for his harissa line. Told me his margins improved because the color from Dundicut let him reduce his paprika dosage.
Sometimes the right answer isn't one or the other.