Tonne to Kilogram
Convert tonne (t) to kilogram (kg) instantly. Move between metric and imperial weights instantly.
Tonne → Kilogram
1000
kg
1 t = 1000 kg
Frequently asked questions
Exactly 1,000 kilograms for the metric tonne. It is the simplest conversion there is — a shift of the decimal point by three places.
Three different units sharing a name. The metric tonne is 1,000 kg. The US short ton is 2,000 lb, or 907.18 kg. The imperial long ton is 2,240 lb, or 1,016.05 kg. On a bulk commodity contract that spread is a large amount of money, which is why trade documentation writes out MT for metric tonne rather than relying on the word.
No — that is a completely unrelated use of the word. A ton of refrigeration is a measure of cooling capacity, defined as the rate of cooling from melting one short ton of ice over 24 hours, which is about 3.517 kilowatts. A 1.5 ton AC removes heat at roughly 5.3 kW. The shared word is a historical accident from when buildings were cooled with delivered ice.
A tonne is exactly 1,000 kilograms
The metric tonne is 1,000 kg by definition, which makes this the simplest conversion on the site — a shift of the decimal point by three places.
Kilograms = tonnes × 1,000
The complication is not the arithmetic. It is that three different "tons" exist, they differ by up to 12%, and the word is used loosely across international trade.
The three tons
Metric tonne (t) — 1,000 kg, or about 2,204.6 lb. The SI-compatible unit, used in India and most of the world. Sometimes written "tonne" specifically to distinguish it.
Short ton (US ton) — 2,000 lb, which is 907.18 kg. Standard in the United States.
Long ton (imperial ton) — 2,240 lb, which is 1,016.05 kg. Formerly standard in the UK, still encountered in shipping and in older documents.
So a cargo described as "1,000 tons" is 1,000,000 kg on the metric reading, 907,180 kg on the American one, and 1,016,050 kg on the British one. On a bulk commodity contract that spread is a very large amount of money, which is why trade documentation specifies the unit explicitly and why "MT" (metric tonne) is written out.
Where tonnes are used in India
Freight and logistics — truck and rail capacity, port throughput, container weights.
Construction materials — cement, steel, sand and aggregate ordered by the tonne.
Agriculture — crop yields per hectare, procurement quantities, warehouse capacity.
Industrial production — steel, coal and manufacturing output.
Vehicle ratings — gross vehicle weight and payload capacity, where Indian commercial vehicles are rated in tonnes.
Common values
- 0.5 t = 500 kg
- 1 t = 1,000 kg
- 1.5 t = 1,500 kg
- 5 t = 5,000 kg
- 10 t = 10,000 kg
- 100 t = 100,000 kg
The quintal, which is still current in India
Indian agricultural markets frequently price in quintals rather than tonnes. A quintal is 100 kg, so ten quintals make a tonne.
Minimum support prices, mandi rates and crop yields are commonly quoted per quintal, and converting to tonnes for comparison against international figures is a routine step: a price of ₹2,200 per quintal is ₹22,000 per tonne.
Air conditioning "tons" are something else entirely
A genuinely unrelated usage worth flagging, because it appears constantly in Indian retail. A ton of refrigeration is a measure of cooling capacity, not weight — it is the rate of cooling produced by melting one short ton of ice over 24 hours, about 3.517 kilowatts.
A "1.5 ton AC" weighs nothing like 1,500 kg. It removes heat at roughly 5.3 kW. The shared word is a historical accident from the era when buildings were cooled with delivered ice.