Food Importer · Montvale, New Jersey

Rice, pulses,
millets and palm jaggery.

Loyal International LLC imports South Indian and Sri Lankan grocery staples into the New York metro area. The everyday shelf of a Tamil kitchen — dhals and rice, ragi and idiyappam flour, karupatti and jaggery — brought in by the container and supplied to the trade.

See the range Our position on health claims

A short glossary for buyers

What is actually in these boxes

Karupatti Palm jaggery — unrefined sugar boiled down from palm sap, sold as powder or balls

Ragi Finger millet, usually milled to flour for porridge, rotis and infant foods

Idiyappam Rice flour pressed into fine string hoppers and steamed

Sukku malli Dry ginger and coriander, traditionally taken as a hot drink

Health mix A multigrain and pulse flour blend, cooked as porridge. A food, despite the name

Shelf tags written by someone unfamiliar with these products cost sales. Ask us and we will write the description for you.

Who we are

A specialist importer,
not a general one

Loyal International LLC imports food products into the New York metro area from suppliers in India, Sri Lanka and China, landing at Newark. Our range is narrow on purpose: the staple groceries of South Indian and Sri Lankan Tamil kitchens.

Broad-line importers carry a little of everything and know a lot about none of it. The difficulty with this category is not sourcing — it is knowing what is worth sourcing. There are a dozen grades of palm jaggery and they are not interchangeable. Ragi flour varies by mill. A dhal that looks identical on a purchase order can behave completely differently in a kitchen.

We are a small trading operation rather than a warehouse chain, which suits this work. Fewer lines, understood properly, bought from suppliers we keep returning to — because in staple groceries a customer notices a substitution immediately, and forgives it slowly.

In a staple aisle, consistency beats novelty. Nobody switches shops over an exciting new dhal; plenty switch over a disappointing one.

Direct Import

From India, Sri Lanka and China into Newark

Narrow Range

South Indian and Sri Lankan staples only

Trade Supply

Grocers, distributors and foodservice

Montvale, NJ

Bergen County, serving the metro area

The range

Six categories, bought properly

Everything here is a staple rather than a novelty. These are the lines a household buys every month without thinking about it.

Rice & Millets

Rice in the varieties this kitchen actually uses, plus finger millet and other small grains — a category that has grown steadily as buyers broaden their aisle.

Pulses & Dhals

Urid, toor, moong and gram dhal, whole and split. The backbone of the aisle and the line where inconsistency is noticed fastest.

Palm Jaggery & Sugars

Karupatti in powder and ball form, palm candy and cane jaggery. Grades vary considerably, and we can talk you through which suits your customers.

Flours & Mixes

Idiyappam flour, ragi flour and multigrain porridge blends — the products that anchor a South Indian breakfast section.

Parched & Puffed Grain

Parched and puffed gram and similar dry snacks, sold in retail packs and larger sizes for caterers and temple kitchens.

Traditional Drink Powders

Sukku malli, tulsi and similar preparations traditionally taken as hot drinks. Sold as foods and beverages — see our note on claims below.

No health claims

These are foods.
We sell them as foods.

Palm jaggery, millets, tulsi and dry ginger are surrounded by a great deal of marketing. Search any of them and you will find claims about blood sugar, immunity, weight and digestion, presented with a confidence the evidence does not support.

We do not make those claims, we do not supply materials that make them, and we would encourage you not to put them on a shelf tag. This is not squeamishness — an unapproved health claim on a food is a regulatory problem for whoever displays it, and that is usually the retailer.

No claims about treating or preventing anything

A food that claims to treat a condition is being marketed as a drug
"Unrefined" does not mean "sugar-free"

Palm jaggery is sugar. It should be described honestly to customers
No "superfood" language from us

The word means nothing and invites the claims that follow it
Check the pack before you shelve it

Ingredients, allergens and nutrition must suit your market, not the origin one

What we will tell you instead

What it is and how it is cooked

A shelf tag that explains idiyappam flour sells more of it than one that calls it a superfood. Customers unfamiliar with a product want to know what to do with it.

Which grade suits your customers

Palm jaggery in particular varies a great deal. The right grade depends on whether your shoppers cook with it, sweeten coffee with it, or buy it for temple use.

How it moves through a year

Some of these lines are steady all year and some spike sharply around festivals. Ordering the same quantity every month is how a store ends up with both gaps and dead stock.

When not to stock something

If a line will not turn over in your store, it will sit until it dates. We would rather sell you five lines that move than fifteen that don't.

Ordering

Four steps, by the case

Enquiry

What you want to stock, and what your customers are actually asking for.

Specs & Pricing

Grades, case packs and pricing confirmed in writing before you commit.

First Order

Deliberately modest, so you can see how each line turns over in your store.

Reorder Rhythm

A schedule built around transit times and your own seasonal peaks.

FAQ

Common questions

No. We supply the trade — grocers, distributors and foodservice operators — by the case. Shoppers looking for these products will find them in South Asian grocers across the metro area.
Two reasons. The first is that the claims circulating about these products generally outrun the evidence, and a customer who buys palm jaggery believing it will not raise their blood sugar has been misled about something that matters to them. The second is regulatory: a food marketed as treating or preventing a condition is being marketed as a drug, and the business displaying that claim carries the exposure. Sell them as what they are — good ingredients with long culinary histories.
Yes, and we would rather do that than have a product sit unsold because nobody in the store could explain it. A tag saying what idiyappam flour is and how it is used will sell it to a curious shopper; a tag with a health claim will sell it to nobody and may cause you a problem. Ask and we will draft plain descriptions for the lines you carry.
Considerably — in colour, moisture, hardness, how finely it is milled and how it behaves in cooking. Powder and ball forms suit different uses, and a grade that dissolves beautifully in coffee may not be what a customer wants for a sweet. Tell us how your customers use it and we will point you at the right one rather than the most expensive one.
For lines already landed, delivery is arranged on a schedule that suits you. For fresh imports, the timetable runs from production through consolidation, ocean transit and customs entry at Newark — a matter of weeks, not days. Festival peaks need to be ordered well ahead; a container cannot be hurried once it has sailed.
Get in touch with your business details and the lines you are considering. We will confirm grades, case packs and pricing in writing, and we generally suggest a modest first order so you can see how each line actually turns over in your store before committing to more.

Rice, pulses,millets and palm jaggery.