Live Crabs Exporters in Bangladesh: Verified Supplier Checklist

A live crab supplier passes this gate only when four records line up for the same shipment: a holding-tank audit, a tank-side grading record, a packing plan matched to a named flight route, and live-arrival terms agreed before loading. A quotation, tank photograph, or earlier certificate does not replace any of those records. Score each check pass, conditional, or fail. Place no order while any check remains a fail.

Why this checklist matters

Live crabs are judged at arrival, and a dead, weak, or wrongly graded crab has little value even when export papers are in order. A general exporter check is therefore not enough; the buyer must test the live business, not only registration and price.

The Codex code of practice notes crabs deteriorate more rapidly than fish under similar conditions, and recommends care in keeping crabs live before processing, careful handling, and tanks or wells built to ensure survival.¹ A supplier who cannot show how crabs are held, handled, and packed asks the buyer to carry that risk.

A gate also protects the timetable: collection, holding, grading, packing, and a flight run in a short sequence, and a slip cannot be repaired by paperwork.

Before you start

Write the order specification before contacting suppliers: crab type, grades, size and shell-hardness bands, destination, arrival airport, arrival inspector, and delivery term. Without those details, two suppliers can quote the same word, live crabs, for different grades and routes.

Confirm destination rules in writing with your importer or broker, because a certificate for one destination may not suit another. For China, reporting describes a protocol requiring clinical compliance certification by the state veterinary office, with animals examined clinically, confirmed healthy, free of clinical symptoms of contagious disease, and suitable for transport, while the fisheries ministry handles inspection, quarantine, and health certificates.² Ask which authority will sign your shipment, and file that answer.

Set the evidence standard at the same time. Every check needs a named document, photograph, log, or written term, filed under supplier name and shipment date. A check with no evidence is conditional, never a pass.

The full checklist (numbered, printable)

A pass needs the evidence named. A conditional needs a dated closure action and owner. A fail stops the order until new evidence arrives.

1. Signing party and legal identity. Ask for legal name, trade licence, export registration, and holding and packing site address. Confirm the signing party controls holding and packing, or that the contract names the holding operator.

2. Destination eligibility and certificate route. Ask which authority inspects the shipment, which certificate is issued, and whether the supplier has shipped live crabs to your destination before. File the importer confirmation with the supplier answer. A mismatch is a fail.

3. Holding-tank audit. Ask for dated tank photographs, water source and change routine, capacity for your dates, and the backup plan if power or water fails. Codex notes holding tanks are a better long-term method than well storage, and live crabs should be packed in clean tanks, wells, crates, open-weave bags, or boxes covered with wet sacking, held as close as possible to 0 degrees Celsius.¹

4. Holding record and weak-crab separation. Ask for a recent log showing intake dates, holding periods, and how weak, damaged, or dead crabs are separated and recorded. This guide sets no universal mortality figure. The log must be complete, dated, and consistent with the shipment size offered.

5. Grading verification at the tank side. Ask for the grade table by size, sex, and shell hardness, plus a tank-side grading record for a comparable shipment, not only a carton label. Soft-shell, slow, or damaged crabs must be graded separately, never mixed into a premium live grade.

6. Vigour and handling check. Ask how vigour is checked before packing, how handling avoids broken legs and appendage damage, and how claws are managed for crabs that mutilate each other. Codex warns broken legs and appendages can cause infection and weaken the crab, and claws should be banded soon after catching for such species.¹

7. Packing specification. Ask for box type, packing material, crabs per box, moisture and humidity control, and box labelling. Codex notes humidity must be maintained for crabs held live in bags for transport, with precautions against suffocation from slime or mud where open-weave bags are used.¹

8. Packing-route match. Put packing time, airport transfer, and flight schedule on one timeline. Ask for the named flight or window, latest packing time, and backup flight. A plan finishing after check-in, or a route with a long unrefrigerated transfer, fails even when tanks and grades pass.

9. Live-arrival terms. Agree in writing how live arrival is counted, who counts it, within how many hours, with what photographic or video evidence, and what happens for dead-on-arrival crabs. State whether the remedy is credit, replacement, or price adjustment, and who bears inspection cost. This guide sets no universal live-arrival figure, because it depends on route, grade, and destination.

10. Documents that match the boxes. Ask for a sample set for a comparable shipment: packing list, health certificate, and box labels, with species, grade, box count, and weight consistent. Crustaceans fall under Harmonized System heading 0306, covering crustaceans, whether in shell or not, live, fresh, chilled, frozen, dried, salted, or in brine, among other forms.³ Confirm the full code with your broker, and check it matches the live form, not a frozen form.

11. Capacity, minimum order, and price drivers. Ask the supplier to state, for your dates, holding capacity, collection plan, minimum order in boxes or kilograms, and price drivers in writing: grade mix, season and availability, box count, air freight, and packing cost. Do not accept a single price without grade mix and route behind it.

12. Evidence file and sign-off. Assemble checks 1 to 11 into one file, with a score per check, a closure date per conditional, and a named shipment contact. The buyer, or buyer agent, signs the file. No conditional is carried into loading without a closure action.

Common failures and how to fix them

Tank passes, route fails. The supplier holds crabs well, then packs for a flight that leaves before packing finishes. Fix it by rebuilding the timeline from the flight backwards, naming a backup flight, and re-scoring check 8.

Mixed grades at packing. The grade table is clear, but the packing record shows mixed sizes or shell hardness in one box. Fix it by requiring a tank-side grading record for your shipment, with separate boxes per grade, and by refusing mixed-grade boxes in the contract.

Weak crabs loaded. The holding log shows separation, but packing photographs show slow or damaged crabs in live boxes. Fix it by adding a named pre-packing vigour check, so weak crabs are removed before packing, not after arrival.

Wrong-market documents. The certificate route, code, or label wording matches an earlier destination, not yours. Fix it by obtaining the importer destination confirmation first, then asking the supplier to confirm the signing authority and certificate for that destination. Reporting notes the fisheries office developed a surveillance system to reduce crab contamination, trained farmers in safe rearing, and started testing consignments before clearing exports.⁴ That testing helps only when tied to your destination.

Arrival disputed, no counting method. Both sides count differently, at different times, with different evidence. Fix it by writing the counting method, time window, evidence, and remedy into the contract before loading, under check 9.

Downloadable template / summary table

Copy this table, add evidence behind each row, score it, and keep it with the contract.

Crab farming is reported in the coastal belt, particularly Khulna, Bagerhat, and Satkhira.⁴ Ask where collection sits relative to packing and airport, because that distance shapes check 8.

How Exportain helps

Exportain supplier pages and RFQ tools let a buyer compare supplier information and send the same specification to more than one supplier. Test consistency: a supplier whose grade table, capacity statement, and route timeline disagree across messages should be scored conditional until corrected.

Read the supplier-verification information on Exportain before relying on any badge or label, and ask the supplier directly for the documents named here. Exportain is a marketplace connecting buyers and suppliers; it does not replace the buyer evidence file, the importer confirmation, or the arrival inspection. The gate stays with the buyer, because only the buyer signs the evidence file.

For a product-level check alongside this gate, see the live crabs checklist, the import guide, and the HS code guide. For check 11 terms, see the minimum order quantity explainer.

FAQs

When should this checklist be used?

Use it before the first order with a new supplier, and again when grade, destination, route, or packing site changes. Passing for one destination and route does not mean passing for another.

Who should complete it?

The buyer should complete it, or a named agent or inspector acting for the buyer, using supplier evidence and importer confirmation. The supplier provides evidence but does not score its own gate.

What are the most common failures?

The most common failures are a route mismatched to the packing timeline, grades mixed at packing, weak crabs loaded into live boxes, wrong-market documents, and an arrival count disputed because no counting method was agreed. Each is fixed by a written record before loading.

Can a third party do it?

Yes, a third party can complete the tank audit, grading record, and arrival count, provided the buyer names the third party, shares the grade table and counting method in advance, and receives the evidence file directly. The buyer still signs the gate.

Next steps on Exportain

Start with suppliers to compare live crab suppliers, read how supplier verification works on Exportain, and send your specification as an RFQ using how to write an RFQ. Score replies with the table above.