How to Read a Kratom COA Report

A Certificate of Analysis is the single most important document a kratom importer will ever review. Here is how to interpret every parameter.

DMS

Dr. Maya S. Head of Quality Control

COA Lab Testing Quality Control

Article Cover Quality Control

For a wholesale buyer, a Certificate of Analysis (COA) is the single most important document you will ever review before placing an order. It is the only objective record that the product you are about to import is pure, potent, and free of contamination. Yet many buyers skim the document and never fully understand what the numbers mean — or what they should be looking for.

The two questions every COA answers

Every meaningful COA answers two questions. First: is the alkaloid content what the supplier claims it is? Second: is the material safe and compliant with the limits that matter to your market? Everything else on the page is supporting detail for those two questions.

Alkaloid potency — mitragynine percentage and, critically, the 7-hydroxymitragynine limit.
Heavy metal residue — lead, cadmium, arsenic, and mercury, usually measured by ICP-MS.
Microbiological load — total plate count, yeast, mold, and pathogens such as E. coli.
Physical parameters — moisture, ash, and particle size that determine shelf life and end-use behavior.

Reading the alkaloid numbers

Mitragynine is the dominant alkaloid in Mitragyna speciosa and the primary marker of potency. In a quality commercial powder, mitragynine typically ranges between 1.2% and 1.6% by HPLC-UV analysis. Anything below 1.0% should raise questions about harvest maturity or adulteration. The second figure, 7-hydroxymitragynine, matters even more for compliance: responsible exporters keep it low, and strict markets cap it at a fraction of a percent.

Typical values from a commercial batch (example)

Parameter	Method	Result	Limit
Mitragynine %	HPLC-UV	1.62%	≥ 1.50%
7-Hydroxymitragynine %	HPLC-UV	0.02%	≤ 0.05%
Moisture Content %	Gravimetric	6.8%	≤ 10.0%
Heavy Metals (Pb)	ICP-MS	0.12 ppm	≤ 0.50 ppm
Microbiology	Plate Count	< 10 CFU/g	≤ 100 CFU/g

Red flags to watch for

No laboratory name, accreditation, or unique COA identifier.
Missing 7-hydroxymitragynine or heavy metal results — often a deliberate omission.
A COA that never changes between batches, suggesting it is reused or fabricated.
A single COA covering multiple very different batches.

“A COA is only as trustworthy as the lab that issued it. Always verify the laboratory is accredited and that the batch number on the COA matches the batch on the packaging.”

— Dr. Maya S.

At KratomWholesale.id, every batch is tested in our in-house ISO-standard laboratory and the full COA is shared with buyers before shipment. We believe transparency is not optional — it is the foundation of the wholesale relationship.