Dry fruit isn't one product category — it's several, and if you're buying in bulk the differences affect shelf life, storage cost, and what you can charge. Kurma, raisins, dried apricots, prunes and dried figs each dry differently and each carry different handling requirements.
Kurma is left to dry on or near the palm, and the variety decides the outcome. A denser type like Ajwa holds a lower moisture content and ships and stores well at room temperature for months, which is why it's a common wholesale staple. Softer varieties need cooler storage and move faster before quality drops. If you're sourcing kurma specifically, our Kurma Medjool pricing and quality guide covers what separates one grade from another.
Raisins are dried grapes, almost always sun-dried or dehydrated by machine after harvest rather than left to dry naturally like kurma — that's why they're small and uniformly wrinkled. Dried apricots usually go through sulphuring to keep the bright orange colour buyers expect; unsulphured stock is darker and has a shorter shelf appeal even though the taste is more concentrated. Prunes and dried figs both carry a higher natural sugar content by weight than the fresh fruit, since drying removes water but keeps everything else the fruit already had.
For a wholesaler, moisture content is the number that actually matters — it determines shelf life, weight (and therefore margin per kg), and whether stock needs refrigeration. Low-moisture kurma and raisins are the easiest to hold in volume; the softer varieties turn over faster or need cold storage, which changes your cost. Our guide to kurma pricing and suppliers in Malaysia has more detail on how grade affects wholesale cost.
Storage handling also differs: kurma and raisins do fine in a sealed container away from humidity, but Malaysia's climate means anything above 60% relative humidity in a storeroom will soften texture and shorten shelf life across all of these fruits. See our full kurma storage guide for the practical steps.
None of these products are "healthy" purely because they're dried — drying concentrates sugar along with everything else in the fruit. Knowing the variety and its moisture profile is what actually helps with sourcing decisions, not a general health claim.