📅 OEM & Private Label · Conversion
📅 18 September 2026 ·
🕐 9 min read ·
📍 SVC Group, Vietnam
Feb
New crop arrival begins
2027 main harvest
6–9
Weeks sample to shipment
SVC standard OEM lead time
Q2
Best contracting window
Peak harvest availability
Sep–Oct
When to start development
For Q1 on-shelf readiness
Q4 is a demand season. Q1 is a supply season. Buyers who understand that distinction, and plan around it, consistently get better terms than buyers who only ever think about sourcing when a selling season is approaching.
This article sets out why September and October are the right months to begin a Q1 2027 private label program, what the annual cycle actually looks like from a planning perspective, and the specific timeline that gets a new product to market at the best point in that cycle.
📆 The annual logic
Why Q2 Is The Best Contracting Window Of The Year
Vietnam's own cashew harvest, and the harvests of its primary raw material origins — Cambodia and West Africa — run broadly February through June. That means Q2 sits inside peak raw material availability, the point in the calendar where processors have the most flexibility on cost, volume and delivery scheduling.
Q3, by contrast, is the lean season — the period this year's own published pricing data confirmed as the point where broken and piece grades started moving even while whole kernel grades held flat. Q4 concentrates the year's peak shipping demand, as European and North American retailers stock for the Christmas season. Contracting in Q4 means competing with everyone else for the same finite capacity, during the tightest supply window of the year.
| Quarter | Supply condition | What it means for contracting |
|---|
| Q1 (Jan–Mar) | New crop beginning to arrive from February | Early positioning; first movers can secure favourable early-season terms |
| Q2 (Apr–Jun) | Peak harvest availability | Best contracting window of the year — most flexibility, most negotiating room |
| Q3 (Jul–Sep) | Lean season, tightening supply | Reactive buyers pay more; this year's data showed ingredient grades moving first |
| Q4 (Oct–Dec) | Peak shipping demand, capacity constrained | Weakest negotiating position of the annual cycle |
The buyers who consistently get the best terms are not the ones who negotiate hardest in the moment. They are the ones who choose which moment to negotiate in.
The Development Timeline That Reaches Q1 2027 Properly
A properly developed OEM product — sample, packaging approval, production, shipping — takes six to nine weeks from a confirmed brief to a container at the gate, per SVC's standard process. Add ocean transit, and a program that starts in late September reaches most major markets with real runway to spare before Q1 demand windows open.
1
September – October: Brief And Sampling
Product concept, grade selection, and initial samples. With no Q4 deadline pressure, this stage can run at the pace the product actually needs — including a genuine second or third sample round for custom flavour or packaging work, without compressing the timeline to hit an artificial date.
2
November: Packaging And Label Finalisation
Artwork approval, label compliance check for the destination market, and pre-production packaging sign-off. This stage benefits particularly from not overlapping with the November–December peak shipping congestion that Q4-rushed programs run directly into.
3
December: Contract And Early Positioning
With product and packaging locked, this is the point to discuss contract structure and volume for Q1 delivery — positioned ahead of the February new-crop arrival, so the program is ready to draw on the most favourable raw material pricing of the year as soon as it becomes available.
4
January – February: Production And Shipment
Production scheduled as new-season raw material begins arriving, with the Q2 contracting advantage already secured through earlier engagement. Container departs with full runway before Q1 selling windows in most markets.
🌞 Regional demand context
What's Actually Driving Demand In Q1 2027
🎌
Middle East: Ramadan Timing
Ramadan is expected to begin in early-to-mid February 2027, based on the lunar calendar. Gifting and premium cashew demand across GCC markets builds ahead of it — product needs to be on shelf well before the start date, not arriving during it
🎉
East Asia: Lunar New Year
Tet and Lunar New Year gifting drive strong cashew and premium nut demand across Vietnam, China and the broader region in late January to mid-February 2027 — another reason product needs to be positioned in Q4 2026, not manufactured in January
💕
Western Markets: Valentine's And New Year Wellness
Gifting formats around Valentine's Day, and the January wellness and healthy-snacking demand spike that follows New Year resolutions, both fall inside Q1 — a second wave of demand distinct from the Christmas season
📊
Retail Category Reviews
Many retailers conduct annual category reviews in Q1, when new private label listings and range changes for the coming year are often decided — a program ready to present in this window has a real advantage over one still in development
🎯 Getting started
What To Bring To The First Conversation
Product concept: grade, roast profile or raw kernel, flavour direction if applicable
Target destination market and any required certifications (Halal, Kosher, Organic)
Packaging format and rough volume expectation for the first order
Target on-shelf date — Ramadan, Lunar New Year, Valentine's, or general Q1 range refresh
None of this needs to be finalised before the first conversation. What matters is starting the conversation in September or October rather than waiting until the demand season is already visible — by which point the contracting advantage that made Q2 the right window has already passed.
💬 CEO Perspective
💬 CEO Perspective
Every year we see the same pattern: buyers who start planning during the quiet months get better terms and a properly developed product, and buyers who wait until a selling season is imminent end up compromising on one or the other. September is quiet right now. That is exactly why it is the right time to start this conversation.
— 𝐂𝐄𝐎, 𝐒𝐕𝐂 𝐈𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐉𝐒𝐂
Planning your Q1 2027 program?
Start the conversation now — development can run at its proper pace, and you position ahead of Q2's peak harvest contracting window.
🏭
About SVC Group
BRC · SMETA · Halal · Kosher · HACCP · FSPCA · 700+ MT/month · 72+ countries · Dong Nai Province, Vietnam
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