Choosing a Peruvian Maca Supplier: 7 B2B Due-Diligence Questions

Seven questions importers, brand owners and procurement managers should ask before signing a Peruvian maca supply contract — questions that quickly separate professional B2B suppliers from middlemen and re-exporters.

The maca market is bigger than most importers realize — and messier

Peru produces over 90% of the world’s maca. The export market grew from USD 8 million in 2010 to over USD 70 million in 2024, with demand concentrated in supplement, sports-nutrition and functional-food categories. With growth has come consolidation, opportunism and noise: hundreds of intermediaries selling „Peruvian maca“ that may or may not be Peruvian, organic-certified maca that may or may not carry valid certificates, and high-altitude maca that may or may not come from above 4,000 meters.

The seven questions below are the questions our most experienced B2B clients ask on the first call.

1. What is your harvest altitude — and can you prove it?

Peruvian maca is grown commercially at 3,800–4,500 meters above sea level. Altitude matters: above 4,000 m, glucosinolate content (the active compound family) reaches its peak. Below 3,500 m, you lose 30–50% of glucosinolate density. Some suppliers blend low-altitude maca to lower costs; verify with the certificate of origin (DIGESA Peru) which lists the production zone.

What good looks like

• Production zones: Junín plateau (Bombón, Junín valley) is the gold standard at 4,100–4,300 m.
• Pasco region (Cerro de Pasco area) is also high-altitude.
• Anything lower than 3,500 m should be discounted or rejected.

2. What variety / chemotype do you supply?

Three principal maca chemotypes circulate in commercial supply: Black, Red and Yellow (with cream and purple as occasional intermediate types). They share a base profile but differ markedly in macamide content, glucosinolate concentration and traditional indications.

• Black maca: highest macamide content, strongest for male vitality and energy applications.
• Red maca: traditional indication for female reproductive health, hormonal balance.
• Yellow maca: the cheapest, highest yield, general energy support, the variety most commercial powders are made from.

If your formulation is positioned for a specific use, specify the chemotype. „Just maca“ usually means yellow maca with some chemotype mixing.

3. Gelatinized or raw?

Raw maca contains starch granules that are difficult to digest. Gelatinized maca uses low-temperature, low-pressure starch breakdown (think parcooking) to make the starch bioavailable. For supplement applications, gelatinized is almost always preferred — easier digestion, lower stomach reactions, better bioavailability of the active compounds.

Specify „gelatinized“ on your purchase order. Raw maca is fine for some niche applications (raw-food brands, ceremonial use), but is harder to formulate around.

4. What is your COA standard?

A professional maca supplier ships every lot with a Certificate of Analysis containing at minimum:

If a supplier offers maca powder without macamide quantification, you are buying a commodity grade. That is fine for some applications but flag it explicitly.

5. What organic certification do you hold?

If your destination market requires organic, specify the certifying body:

• USA: USDA NOP certification by an accredited certifier.
• EU: EU Regulation 2018/848 certification.
• Japan: JAS Organic.
• Canada: COR.

Ask for the certificate by certifier name and certificate number. Cross-verify on the certifier’s online registry. Peruvian organic maca is widely available with all four certifications; do not accept „certificate pending“ for a contract shipment.

6. What is your MOQ, lead time, and reorder cadence?

A professional B2B operation should answer these without negotiation:

• Bulk powder MOQ: 100 kg (sometimes 500 kg for organic).
• Bulk powder lead time: 21–30 days from PO.
• Capsule manufacturing MOQ: 5,000–10,000 units.
• Capsule lead time: 45–60 days from formulation finalization.

If a supplier quotes you MOQs of 5+ MT or lead times of 60+ days for bulk powder, ask why. The answer is often that they are a re-exporter consolidating multiple small lots from other producers.

7. Can you ship samples and provide a video tour of your facility?

This is the question that separates real producers from middlemen. A real producer will:

• Ship a 200–500 g sample within 2 weeks of an initial conversation.
• Provide a recorded video tour of harvest, drying, processing and packaging operations.
• Welcome a buyer visit (and have a Peruvian address you can verify on Google Maps satellite view).

If your supplier resists samples, dodges facility-tour requests or only provides stock photography of „maca farms“ with no specific geo-tags, walk away. They are sourcing from someone else.