ShipHit at CII Foodpro 2026 Three Days at Chennai Trade Centre

Foodpro is India's flagship exhibition for food processing, packaging and food technology - and the Southern Region edition draws the manufacturing base of Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh.

The 2026 edition brought together technology providers, food processors, manufacturers, policymakers, industry leaders and entrepreneurs across the food processing value chain. The floor covered processing machinery, packaging systems, dairy, beverages and retail technology, alongside dedicated themes for refrigeration and cold chain, processed foods, traditional foods, poultry and perishables.

Most of the Foodpro floor was machinery. A courier company is not the obvious exhibitor - and that is exactly why we were there.

Foodpro is a processing and packaging show. Filling lines, retort pouches, cold storage systems, automation. We were there because of what happens after the packaging line. A food brand in Coimbatore can perfect a shelf-stable pickle in a retort pouch, obtain its FSSAI licence and print a compliant label - and still have no idea how to get 200 units to a distributor in New Jersey without half the consignment being held at customs.

We built the stall around the three things food manufacturers actually get stuck on: what a shipment really costs, what customs will accept, and whether the packing survives the journey.

Rather than a brochure table, we set the stall up around three working demonstrations. The reaction we did not expect: how many visitors told us they had never seen an all-in international rate before being invoiced for one.

• Live rate transparency - working out real chargeable weight and landed cost on the spot, instead of a quote that changes after pickup.
• Country-by-country customs rules - what food is accepted, what gets held, and what is refused outright, laid out per destination.
• Export-grade packing - why packaging that survives a warehouse in Chennai does not automatically survive an unpressurised cargo hold and a customs inspection.

Three days of conversations, and the same four questions came back - from packaged food brands, spice processors and first-time exporters alike.

These questions are worth answering properly, because almost every manufacturer we spoke to was blocked on at least one of them. Each is getting a dedicated guide of its own over the coming weeks.

• Can I even send this legally? It depends on the destination's import rules, not India's export rules - a product perfectly legal to sell in India can still be refused entry abroad. Dairy, meat content, seeds and fresh produce attract the strictest checks.
• What paperwork do I need? Commercial consignments typically need an IEC code, a commercial invoice with accurate HS codes and declared values, FSSAI documentation, and for some plant-based products a phytosanitary certificate. Requirements vary by product and destination - confirm per shipment.
• What does it cost per kg for 100 kg or more? Bulk changes the economics substantially against single parcels, and the rate depends on chargeable weight rather than scale weight.
• What happens if a consignment is held? Prevention is almost entirely about declaration accuracy and labelling. A correctly declared, factory-sealed, properly labelled shipment is a fundamentally different risk from a vaguely declared one.

One pattern stood out across three days: packaging innovation is running well ahead of export knowledge.

The technology to make an Indian food product travel-ready is on the Foodpro floor and increasingly affordable. Retort processing, modified-atmosphere packaging, cold chain systems - a small brand can now build a product that will physically survive a month in transit. The knowledge of how to actually move that product across a border, declared correctly and documented properly, is far scarcer. That gap was wider than we expected, and closing it is the more useful thing we can offer this industry.

Our thanks to CII Southern Region, and to everyone who stopped by the stall with a genuinely complicated shipment.

We were glad to talk it through with them. If we spoke at Foodpro and you are still weighing your options, the most useful next step is a real quote on your actual consignment rather than an indicative rate. We expect to be back for the 17th edition.

ShipHit is an international courier service based in Chennai, shipping parcels, food, documents and commercial consignments from India to 220+ countries worldwide.

We handle the part of the journey most food manufacturers find hardest: getting a product out of India, correctly declared and properly documented, and into a buyer's hands abroad. That means free doorstep pickup across Chennai and Coimbatore, chargeable weight calculated in front of you before the shipment is confirmed, customs declaration support for food and other restricted categories, and WhatsApp tracking updates through to delivery.

• Food and perishables - pickles, masala, spices, sweets, snacks and packaged food, with the customs declarations each destination expects.
• Commercial and bulk consignments - export shipments for packaged food brands, with HS codes, invoicing and documentation support.
• Documents and personal parcels - certificates, passports and family parcels on express international services.
• Free doorstep pickup across Chennai, Coimbatore, Tiruppur, Pondicherry and Mayiladuthurai.

Whether it is a single trial shipment to a prospective buyer or a recurring export consignment, the quickest way forward is a real quote on your actual box.

Chargeable weight is calculated and shown to you before the shipment is confirmed, so the figure you are quoted is the figure you are invoiced. For food and other customs-sensitive categories, tell us the product and destination up front and we will confirm what documentation that lane needs before anything is collected.

• Online calculator (fastest): enter weight and dimensions for an instant quote based on chargeable weight.
• Free doorstep pickup: available across Chennai, Coimbatore, Tiruppur, Pondicherry and Mayiladuthurai.