What to Send a Masterbatch Supplier When You Ask for a Quote

Most masterbatch enquiries arrive containing about a third of what is needed to answer them. “Please quote for white masterbatch, 2 tonnes.” That is a request for a number, and the number that comes back will either be hedged, slow, or quietly priced for the worst case the supplier can imagine.

A complete enquiry gets a better technical answer, a faster one, and usually a keener price — because the supplier can stop protecting themselves against unknowns. Here is the list.

The seven things that actually change the answer

1. Polymer and grade

Not “PP” — the actual grade, with its MFI. Masterbatch is colourant carried in a polymer, and carrier compatibility with your specific resin determines dispersion, mechanical performance and clarity.

The same colourant in HDPE and in PET are different products. The same colourant in a 2 MFI and a 25 MFI grade may need different carriers.

Include: polymer, grade designation, MFI, supplier if you know it, and whether you run regrind and at what percentage.

Regrind matters more than people expect. It carries its own thermal history, its own colour, and its own additive package, and you are dosing on top of all of it.

2. The process

Injection moulding, blow moulding, film extrusion, pipe extrusion, sheet, rotomoulding, fibre — each has different shear, residence time and temperature. A grade that disperses perfectly in a twin-screw-fed extruder may not disperse in a single-screw moulder at low shear.

Include: the process, machine type, melt temperature and typical residence time if you have it.

3. Part geometry and thickness

Colour and opacity are thickness-dependent. The loading that gives you opacity in a 3 mm wall is wrong for a 50 micron film.

For UV packages, thickness governs everything — the same additive loading protects a thin film differently from a thick section.

Include: wall thickness or film gauge, part size, and surface texture if the part is textured. Texture changes measured and perceived colour.

4. The colour standard, in a usable form

The single biggest cause of delay.

Best: a physical plaque in your own resin, with the measurement conditions you want to work to. Good: spectral data, with illuminant and geometry stated. Workable: a Pantone or RAL reference, understanding that these are surface-colour systems and will need interpretation in plastic. Difficult: a painted sample, a printed swatch, or a photograph.

If you have a tolerance in mind, state it with the formula and conditions: ΔE*00 ≤ 1.0, D65/10°, specular included. See Delta E and colour tolerance.

Also state the illuminants the part will be seen under. A match approved under daylight that fails under retail LED is a metamerism problem that could have been designed out.

5. Service environment and expected life

Indoors or outdoors. If outdoors, where, and for how long.

Specify exposure in kilolangleys where you can rather than in years — “five years” means something different in Rajasthan and Kerala, while kLy is a measured dose that is portable and testable.

Also flag chemical exposure, contact with other materials, temperature cycling and anything else the part will meet in service.

6. The compliance requirement

Driven entirely by the end market.

End use	State this in the enquiry
Food or beverage contact	FSSAI and applicable IS specification
Toys and childcare	EN 71-3, IS 9873
Potable water	The relevant IS for the component
Electrical and electronic	RoHS, plus any flammability requirement
EU export	REACH
Pharmaceutical packaging	The relevant pharmacopoeial requirement

Saying this at enquiry stage matters, because pigment eligibility constrains the match. A shade matched first and checked for compliance afterwards sometimes has to be abandoned.

7. Volume and pattern

Not just the annual tonnage — the pattern.

Twelve tonnes a year as one annual delivery, as monthly tonne lots, or as weekly 250 kg drops are three different propositions for a manufacturer, and they price differently.

Include: annual volume, typical order size, delivery frequency, number of shades, and how often you change colour on the line.

What a complete enquiry looks like

We injection mould a 2.5 mm wall housing in PP copolymer, 12 MFI, with 15% internal regrind, melt 230 °C. Part is textured, used outdoors in coastal Gujarat, five-year service life. Colour to attached plaque moulded in our own resin, target ΔE*00 ≤ 1.5, D65/10° specular included, also to be checked under cool white fluorescent. No food or toy requirement; RoHS needed for export. Volume around 9 tonnes a year in monthly lots, three shades, colour change weekly.

That enquiry can be answered properly, with a specification and a trial proposal, usually within a couple of days. The two-line version cannot.

What you should expect back

A supplier who is doing the job will come back with:

• A proposed grade and let-down ratio, with the reasoning
• A view on what is achievable against your tolerance, including if it is not
• A trial proposal — quantity, what to measure, what a pass looks like
• The compliance position for your stated end market
• Questions, if anything in your brief is ambiguous

A quote that is only a price per kilogram, with no specification behind it, is answering a different question from the one you asked.

Two things worth not doing

Do not send the same enquiry to ten suppliers and take the cheapest. You will get a spread, and the spread will mostly reflect what each supplier assumed about the gaps in your brief rather than genuine cost differences.

Do not withhold the volume to get a better price. Manufacturers price against production planning. An unknown volume is priced as a small one.

Talk to us

We will ask for everything above if you do not send it, so sending it up front saves a round trip.

Send us your polymer and grade, your process, your part geometry, your colour standard and conditions, the service environment, your compliance requirement and your volume pattern — and you will get back a proposed specification, a realistic view of your tolerance, and a trial you can run on your own line. Related: colour masterbatches, white masterbatches, black masterbatches, additive masterbatches, contact us.

Frequently asked questions

What information does a masterbatch supplier need to quote?

Polymer and grade with MFI, regrind percentage, the process and melt temperature, part geometry and wall thickness, the colour standard with measurement conditions, service environment and life, the compliance requirement for the end market, and annual volume with its delivery pattern.

Why do masterbatch quotes come back vague?

Because the enquiry left out the information that changes the answer. A supplier who does not know your polymer, thickness or service environment has to price defensively against the worst case they can reasonably imagine.

What is the best way to send a colour standard?

A physical plaque moulded in your own resin, with the measurement conditions stated. Spectral data with illuminant and geometry is next best. Pantone and RAL references are workable but need interpretation in plastic, and painted or printed samples are the hardest to work from.

Should I tell the supplier my volume?

Yes. Manufacturers price against production planning, and an unstated volume gets priced as a small one. The pattern matters as much as the total – one annual delivery, monthly lots and weekly drops are three different propositions.

Why does regrind percentage matter in an enquiry?

Regrind carries its own thermal history, its own colour and its own additive package, so you are dosing colourant and additive on top of an existing and variable baseline. A supplier who does not know the regrind level cannot predict the result accurately.

Why should I state the compliance requirement before the colour is matched?

Because pigment eligibility constrains the match. Some chemistries are excluded from toys under EN 71-3 or from food contact, so a shade matched first and checked afterwards occasionally has to be abandoned and redone.

How should outdoor exposure be stated?

In kilolangleys where possible, because it is a measured radiation dose that is portable between locations and testable under accelerated weathering. A figure in years means very different things in different parts of India.

What should a good masterbatch quote include?

A proposed grade and let-down ratio with the reasoning behind it, a realistic view of whether your tolerance is achievable, a trial proposal stating what to measure and what a pass looks like, and the compliance position for your end market – not only a price per kilogram.