Agriculture & food
Indonesian pepper
Indonesia ships two peppers the trade knows by name. Lampung black comes from Lampung on Sumatra, Muntok white from Bangka-Belitung. They are different products from the same vine, and the grade you order decides whether the berries arrive cleaned or as they came off the farm.
How it leaves the country.
- Lampung black
- Picked before ripeness and dried with the skin on. The name is a trade designation tied to the growing region.
- Muntok white
- Ripe berries retted to remove the skin, then dried. Named after the port on Bangka, and a distinct trade with its own buyers.
- Ground and sterilised
- Also shipped ground, and steam-treated where the destination expects it. Both change the specification and the price.
How it is graded.
The word that matters on a pepper order is not the origin. It is whether you bought FAQ or ASTA, and the two describe very different bags at very different prices.
- FAQ
- Fair Average Quality. Farmgate condition, with the stalks, dust, light berries and stones that came with it. Cheap, and cleaned at your cost.
- ASTA
- Cleaned to the American Spice Trade Association's analytical methods, which is what most food buyers actually mean when they say export quality.1
- What to specify
- Origin, colour, grade, bulk density, moisture, piperine, volatile oil, light berry percentage, and whether the lot is steam-treated.
How it is packed.
- Bag
- Jute or polypropylene, in the net weight the destination trade works with. Confirm it rather than assuming a standard.
- Microbiology
- Whole spices carry a microbiological risk that food buyers in Europe take seriously. Steam treatment is the usual answer and it has to be agreed before production, not after a laboratory result.1
Where it grows.
Lampung
Sumatra
The black pepper region, and the origin name that travels with the product into every market.
Bangka-Belitung
Bangka
Muntok white pepper country, where the retting practice that defines the product is concentrated.
South Sumatra
Sumatra
Growing that feeds the same collectors as Lampung, without carrying the origin name.
Southeast Sulawesi
Sulawesi
A smaller producing area with its own collection network.
Choosing between this and something else.
Origins with a protected name.
Names the trade contracts on, most of them on the Indonesian register of geographical indications.
Documentation, where applicable.
- Certificate of analysis
- Moisture, piperine, volatile oil, bulk density and light berries on the lot that shipped, against the grade in the contract.
- Phytosanitary certificate
- Issued by Badan Karantina Indonesia against the plant health requirements of the destination.2
- Treatment certificate
- Where the lot is steam-treated, the record of that treatment travels with it and is worth asking for by name.
- Certificate of origin
- Which form applies depends on the destination and on the preference scheme in force between it and Indonesia.
Questions buyers ask.
What is the difference between FAQ and ASTA?
Cleaning. FAQ is fair average quality as it comes off the farm, stalks and stones included. ASTA is cleaned and graded to published analytical methods. The price gap between them is real work that someone has to do, and if the supplier does not do it you will.
Is Muntok white just black pepper with the skin off?
Same vine, different product. White pepper is picked ripe and retted in water to remove the outer layer, which changes the flavour as well as the colour. Buyers of one are rarely buyers of the other.
Why do European buyers ask about steam treatment?
Because whole spices carry a microbiological risk and the European food trade manages it upstream. Steam treatment is the standard answer, and it needs to be part of the specification from the start rather than a fix applied to a lot that already failed.
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.
Tell us what you need.
Give us the specification and the destination port. We come back with producer options and an indicative price. Our fee is 5 % of the order value, paid by you and never by the factory.
Sources
- 1Entering the European market for black pepper. CBI, Netherlands Enterprise Agency. Checked 3 August 2026.
- 2Badan Karantina Indonesia, the national quarantine agency. Republic of Indonesia. Checked 3 August 2026.