Aceh · Sumatra
Aceh patchouli
Aceh is the patchouli origin the perfume industry names, and the oil is registered as a geographical indication under Minyak Nilam Aceh. Patchouli is distilled at village scale from dried leaf, and the property buyers contract on is patchouli alcohol content.
A protected name.
Minyak Nilam Aceh
IG.00.2012.0000041
Registered for Aceh. It is one of the few Indonesian essential oils on the register, which matters in a trade with a long history of blending.
What makes it different.
- Village distillation
- Small stills operated close to the fields. Equipment is not standardised, so batch-to-batch variation is a feature of the origin and not an accident.
- Patchouli alcohol is the contract term
- The oil is bought on this figure. An origin name does not guarantee it, which is exactly why the analysis matters more than the label.
- Adulteration has a long history here
- Patchouli is a valuable oil sold in small volumes, which has always attracted dilution. A registered origin gives you a name to hold someone to.
- Crude and redistilled are different goods
- Redistillation removes iron and colour and lifts consistency. It costs more, and a quoted price that seems low usually means crude.
Getting it out.
- Medan for containers
- Oil moves overland from Aceh to Medan and leaves through Belawan, which is also the route Gayo coffee takes.
- Drums and small volumes
- This is a drum trade, not a container trade. Consolidation with other cargo is usually how a shipment is built.
What we source here.
Indonesian patchouli oil
Patchouli alcohol content, crude against redistilled, how Aceh, Sumatran and Sulawesi oils differ, and the documents a buyer needs.
How to verify an Indonesian supplier
Two public government registries, the cross-check between them that catches most problems before a deposit moves, and the part only a visit can answer.
Container loading and what actually fits
The cubic capacity figures in circulation disagree with each other. What really decides a load is weight, geometry and the carrier's own specification.
Questions buyers ask.
Does the Aceh name guarantee the patchouli alcohol figure?
No. The registration says where the material came from. It says nothing about what is in the drum you were sent, and village distillation varies genuinely from batch to batch. Contract on the analysis and ask for an independent result on the shipped lot when the price turns on the figure.
Crude or redistilled?
Redistilled if you need consistency and a clean colour, crude if you are processing it yourself. They are separate products at separate prices, and comparing quotations without naming which one you mean is the most common way to be surprised.
How do I protect against adulteration?
A retained sample from the shipped drum and an independent laboratory result against it. This is a high-value oil in small volumes with a long history of dilution, and the cost of testing is trivial against the cost of a drum.
What does your service cost?
Five per cent of the order value, paid by you and never by the factory. A factory audit starts at $250 depending on location. We work with orders from $10,000 per shipment.
Worth reading.
Buying from Aceh?
Tell us the specification and the port. We go to the region, look at the material and put the documents together before anyone quotes a price.
Sources
- 1Register of protected geographical indications. Direktorat Jenderal Kekayaan Intelektual, Republic of Indonesia. Checked 5 August 2026.