Buying · 8 min
What to look at on a cold chain show floor, and what to walk past
Three halls, four hundred stands and two days. Most of it is not for you. Here is the part that is.
Project cost Guide
What it costs to build a 5,000 MT cold store in India
What the money actually goes on, what moves the number most, and the line almost every first-time project forgets.
The short answer
- Cost splits four ways: land and site work, civil structure, insulation and doors, and the refrigeration plant. In a potato store the plant is usually the smallest of the four, not the largest.
- Chamber count moves the number more than capacity does. Five chambers of 1,000 MT cost meaningfully more than one of 5,000 — more doors, more evaporators, more controls — and are worth it if you handle more than one crop.
- The commonest omission is working capital for the first season, before a single bag has been charged for.
- Any figure older than a quotation is a guess. Steel, PUF and compressors all move; get three current quotations before a project report goes anywhere.
01The four parts of the number
Almost everyone asking this question has a figure in their head from a neighbour who built a few years ago, and it is wrong — usually by a third, and usually low.
It helps to stop thinking of a single number and start thinking of four, because they move independently and for different reasons.
| Part | What it covers | What moves it |
|---|---|---|
| Land and site | Plot, levelling, boundary, approach, drainage, power connection | Location, and how far the nearest adequate power line is |
| Civil structure | Foundation, floor, walls, roof, loading dock | Steel and cement at the time you buy them |
| Insulation and doors | PUF panels, floor insulation, insulated doors, vapour barrier | Panel thickness, which is set by the temperature you are holding |
| Refrigeration plant | Compressors, condensers, evaporators, controls, erection | Chamber count, temperature, and whether you buy ammonia or freon |
02Why chamber count matters more than capacity
A 5,000 MT store in one chamber and a 5,000 MT store in five are not the same building, and the second costs materially more. Each chamber needs its own door, its own evaporators and its own controls.
What the extra buys is the ability to run more than one crop, hold more than one temperature, and empty one chamber without disturbing the rest. If you only ever hold potato for one set of customers, one large chamber is the cheaper and better answer. The moment you want to hold two crops, or serve two customers with different offtake dates, the single chamber becomes a trap.
03Temperature is a cost decision, not a detail
Holding potato at 2–4 °C and holding frozen goods at −18 °C are different businesses in the same shed. Frozen needs thicker insulation, more plant, tighter door discipline and more power, and the running cost gap does not close.
Decide the temperature before the design, not after. Retrofitting a chilled store to frozen usually means replacing the insulation, which is most of what you already paid for.
04The line nobody budgets
Working capital for the first season. Raw material is bought when the crop comes, storage revenue arrives later, and salaries, power and interest run the whole time in between.
Power deserves particular attention. A cold store draws continuously, and in most of the potato belt it draws through outages too — which means a genset, its fuel, and its maintenance, all of which are operating cost rather than project cost and so tend to be left out of the appraisal.
05Questions worth asking a supplier before you accept a quotation
- What panel thickness is quoted, and for what holding temperature?
- Is the floor insulated, and how is it protected against forklift traffic?
- How many evaporators per chamber, and what airflow do they give at the far end of a full stack?
- What is the quoted power draw at full load, and at what ambient temperature?
- Is erection, commissioning and first-year service in the price, or beside it?
- What is excluded? The exclusions list is usually more informative than the inclusions.
06Where a current number has to come from
Three quotations from suppliers who have built in your district, against a written specification you wrote rather than one they wrote for you. Anything else is somebody selling you their own design.
We do not publish project costs on this site, because a number without a date and a specification behind it is worse than no number.
07Common questions
- How much does a 5,000 MT cold storage cost in India?
- It depends on chamber count, holding temperature, insulation thickness and where you build. The cost divides into land and site work, civil structure, insulation and doors, and the refrigeration plant — and in a potato store the plant is usually the smallest of the four. Get three current quotations against your own written specification; any figure older than a quotation is a guess.
- Is it cheaper to build one large chamber or several small ones?
- One large chamber is cheaper. Several smaller chambers cost more because each needs its own door, evaporators and controls, but they let you hold different crops and temperatures and empty one without disturbing the others.
- What is usually left out of a cold storage project estimate?
- Working capital for the first season, and the cost of power backup — the genset, its fuel and its maintenance. Both are operating costs rather than project costs, which is exactly why they fall out of the appraisal.
- Can a chilled cold store be converted to frozen later?
- Rarely economically. Frozen needs thicker insulation, more plant and tighter door discipline, so conversion usually means replacing the insulation — which is most of what was already spent. Decide the temperature before the design.