Essential oils & personal care
Indonesian clove leaf oil
Clove leaf oil is steam-distilled from the fallen leaves of the clove tree, and Indonesia distils it at village scale across Java, Sulawesi and Maluku. Buyers contract it on eugenol content, which is what the oil is bought for. Leaf, bud and stem oils are three different products with three different standards.
How it leaves the country.
- Leaf oil
- From fallen leaves. The high-volume product, distilled in village stills, and the usual feedstock for eugenol isolation.
- Bud oil
- From the flower buds. Finer, more expensive, and used in perfumery and flavour work where the leaf oil profile would be too coarse.
- Stem oil
- From the stalks. A third product with its own standard, and not interchangeable with either of the others.
How it is graded.
Like patchouli, this is one of the products where an international standard does the defining. Contract against the right standard for the right oil, plus a eugenol figure, and there is very little room left for argument.
- Standard
- ISO 3141, oil of clove leaf1
- Contracted on
- Eugenol content, alongside colour, specific gravity and refractive index.
- Redistilled
- Crude village-still oil is often redistilled to lift eugenol and clean the colour. It is a separate product at a separate price.
How it is packed.
- Containers
- Filled by net weight into lined drums. Clove oils darken on contact with bare metal, so the lining does real work here.
- Sampling
- Retain samples on both sides against the shipped batch. With an oil priced on one analytical figure, that is the only way a later dispute gets settled.
Where it grows.
Central Java
Java
Village distillation around the clove-growing highlands, and one of the country's main sources of leaf oil.
North Sulawesi
Sulawesi
Clove country with a long trading history, supplying both leaf and bud material.
Maluku
Maluku
Where clove originally comes from. Small volumes now, and a name that still carries in the trade.
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
- Against ISO 3141 and the contracted eugenol figure, issued on the batch that shipped.1
- Safety data sheet
- Required by everyone handling the goods downstream, and the basis for how the drum is classified in transit.
- REACH
- For the EU, the registration obligation sits with the importer or an appointed only representative.2
- Certificate of origin
- Which form applies depends on the destination and on the preference scheme in force between it and Indonesia.
Questions buyers ask.
Leaf, bud or stem oil?
They are three products. Leaf oil is the volume material and the usual eugenol source. Bud oil is finer and dearer and belongs in perfumery and flavour work. Stem oil sits between them. Naming the wrong one on a purchase order is the most common mistake on this product.
Why does eugenol content vary so much?
Village distillation is not standardised equipment, and the leaf material varies with season and handling. Redistillation is what brings a consignment onto a consistent figure, which is why the redistilled product costs more.
Should I insist on an independent analysis?
Where the price turns on eugenol content, yes. An independent laboratory result on the shipped batch costs very little against the value of a drum, and it is what a retained sample is measured against if anything goes wrong.
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.
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
- 1ISO 3141, oil of clove leaf. International Organization for Standardization. Checked 3 August 2026.
- 2Entering the European market for essential oils. CBI, Netherlands Enterprise Agency. Checked 3 August 2026.