Essential oils & personal care
Damar resin
Damar is a pale resin from dipterocarp trees, mainly Shorea species, collected by tapping and by gathering hardened lumps. In Sumatra a great deal of it comes from damar agroforests that families planted and pass down, which makes it a cultivated crop rather than a wild extraction.
How it leaves the country.
- Damar mata kucing
- The premium grade, named for its clarity. Large pale translucent lumps, and the reason the trade exists at the price it does.
- Lower grades
- Smaller, cloudier or darker material with more bark and dust. Sold for uses where appearance does not matter.
- Powder or ground
- For formulators who dissolve it. Grinding suits industrial buyers and removes the ability to judge the material by eye.
- Batu or asphalt-type resins
- A different and darker class of resin traded under related names. Establish which one an offer means, because the names overlap.
How it is graded.
Graded by eye, on clarity, colour and lump size, and then screened for what is not resin. There is no laboratory number that replaces looking at it.
- Clarity
- The main axis. Pale and translucent is the premium; cloudy is discounted. Clarity comes from clean collection and from tapping practice rather than from processing.
- Lump size
- Larger pieces command more, partly because they are easier to sort and partly because they signal an undisturbed tap.
- Bark and dirt
- Collected from cups and from the ground, so foreign matter is a real component. Sorting is manual and it is what the grading fee pays for.
- Colour
- Water white through yellow to brown. Darkening indicates age, heat or contamination during collection.
- Species
- Several Shorea species yield damar with different characteristics. If a formulation depends on it, the species belongs in the specification.
- Moisture and blocking
- Resin picks up moisture and lumps fuse together in heat. Both are packing and storage problems that show on arrival rather than at origin.
How it is packed.
- Bags or drums
- Sorted lumps in woven bags or lined drums. Lower grades travel in bulk bags and premium grades are packed to protect the pieces.
- Heat
- The resin softens and the lumps fuse in a hot container, which turns graded material into a block. Stow away from the container walls and the door.
- Dust and fines
- Handling generates fines that are worth less than the lumps. Over-handling a premium grade destroys the reason you bought it.
- Moisture
- Bagged damp, the material cakes. Dry storage before loading is a real specification point in a wet climate.
Where it grows.
Krui and Pesisir Barat
Sumatra
The best-known damar agroforests, planted and managed by families over generations, on Lampung's west coast.
Riau and Jambi
Sumatra
Collection from lowland forest areas, more variable in grade and organisation.
Kalimantan
Kalimantan
Dipterocarp forest across the island yields resin, with collection scattered and traceability harder.
Sulawesi
Sulawesi
Smaller collection areas feeding local trade more than export.
Origins with a protected name.
Names the trade contracts on, most of them on the Indonesian register of geographical indications.
Documentation, where applicable.
- Phytosanitary certificate
- A raw plant product, so plant health applies and the destination may require treatment.1
- Certificate of analysis
- Where a formulator needs solubility, acid number or ash on the shipped lot.
- Certificate of origin
- Which form applies depends on the destination and the preference scheme in force with Indonesia.
- Legality documents
- Where the destination treats forest products as requiring evidence of legal origin, which depends on the product and the market.2
Questions buyers ask.
What is damar used for?
Varnishes and coatings, incense, and a range of formulated products where a natural resin is wanted. Traditional and craft uses in Indonesia are substantial and separate from the export trade.
Is collecting it bad for the forest?
In the Sumatran agroforest system the trees are planted, owned and inherited, and the resin is a reason to keep them standing rather than to clear the land. That is a genuinely different position from most forest extraction and it is worth evidencing if you intend to say it.
How do I specify a grade?
By clarity, lump size and cleanliness against an agreed reference sample, because the trade grade names are not standardised across suppliers. Hold a sealed sample and inspect against it.
Why did my shipment arrive as one block?
Heat. Resin softens in a container crossing the tropics and the lumps fuse. It is a stow and packing problem, and it is preventable rather than inevitable.
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
- 1Badan Karantina Indonesia, the national quarantine agency. Republic of Indonesia. Checked 3 August 2026.
- 2SVLK, Indonesia's timber legality assurance system. FLEGT licence information service. Checked 3 August 2026.