Date Paste (Bulk, for Bars, Bakery & Fillings)

100% pitted, minced dates in vacuum blocks, bought on moisture, pit fragments, mince size and variety

Date paste is whole dates that have been sorted, washed, steamed, pitted and minced through a screen into a dense, uniform block. It is an ingredient, and it is bought on what it does on a production line. Moisture, usually 16 to 20% (a Deglet Nour paste is typically held at 17% plus or minus one), and water activity of about 0.63 to 0.66 decide whether it binds a bar without making it sticky and how long it keeps. Mince size, 3 mm for general use and 1 mm for fine fillings, decides texture. Variety decides colour and flavour: Deglet Nour from Tunisia and Algeria gives a light amber, mild paste; Aseel from Sindh in Pakistan a darker, more caramel one at the lowest price; Zahidi a firm, fibrous paste for baking; Khalas and other Saudi varieties a soft, rich one. The defect that matters most is pit fragments, because a fragment breaks teeth and machinery. The United States' defect action level for macerated date material is two or more pits or pit fragments of 2 mm or longer per 900 g, and a serious buyer asks for metal detection and a fragment count on every lot. Paste is sold as 100% dates; anything coated with oil or dusted with rice flour to stop sticking is declared.

The buyers are snack-bar and energy-ball makers, industrial bakeries, breakfast-cereal and confectionery plants, and makers of ma'amoul and other filled pastries. The United States imported about 33,900 MT of dates in all forms in 2024, worth USD 98.8 million, with Tunisia, Algeria, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan the main sources of processing fruit beside Mexican fresh dates, and organic dates were about a quarter of US date sales in 2025. The EU's industrial and food-service users take about two-fifths of its date imports. CBIL brokers date paste from processors in Pakistan, Tunisia, Algeria, Egypt and Saudi Arabia in 5, 10, 12.5 and 25 kg vacuum-packed blocks in lined cartons, about 18 to 24 MT in a 20 ft container, against the processor's certificate of analysis and SGS or Intertek inspection of moisture, pit fragments, foreign matter, infestation and microbiology. For the United States the importer holds the foreign supplier verification, the processing plant is registered with the food regulator and prior notice is filed for each shipment; the rate of duty depends on the tariff line the paste is entered under and on the origin, and is confirmed with the importer's customs broker. For the EU the limits are 2.0 µg/kg for ochratoxin A and 4.0 µg/kg for total aflatoxins in dried fruit, methyl bromide is not permitted, and organic fruit is disinfested by freezing or carbon dioxide. Date syrup (dibs) is offered from the same plants. Paste ships ambient on short routes and in reefers at 0 to 5 °C for long transits and organic lots, on FOB, CFR and CIF terms.

See also: Whole dates by variety and count · Saudi dates: Ajwa, Sukkari, Khalas, Safawi and more · Khalas dates, the Al-Ahsa paste variety

Excluded origins are not offered, including product re-exported, blended or re-processed through a third country. Every lot moves with a certificate of origin naming the producing plant, mine or grower country, and nothing is quoted before the seller and loading point are known.