Seafood
Indonesian dried anchovy
Dried anchovy, teri in Indonesian, is boiled in brine and dried within hours of landing. Grading runs on size, colour and how intact the fish are, and the top grades go to Japan and Korea while the broken and darker material feeds the regional cooking trade.
How it leaves the country.
- Whole white grades
- Small, pale, intact fish, boiled briefly and dried fast. The premium export, and the grade Japanese and Korean buyers want.
- Headless and gutted
- Processed for convenience in cooking. A different price and a different buyer, mostly regional.
- Broken and mixed
- What is left after grading. Goes into stock, sambal and animal feed at commodity prices.
- Larger dried species
- Bigger fish dried the same way and sold under related names. Confirm the species, because the trade names overlap.
How it is graded.
This is a visual trade with no published standard. What the grades measure is speed and care in the first hours after the catch.
- Colour is a proxy for freshness
- Pale white fish were boiled and dried quickly. Yellow and brown material sat before processing, and no amount of later handling reverses it.
- Breakage
- Intact fish command the premium. Breakage happens in handling and drying, and it is what separates the top grade from the second.
- Salt and moisture
- Boiling in brine adds salt and drying removes water. Both are specification points, and both differ between the Japanese and the regional product.
- Histamine
- The species develops histamine when it warms after capture, and the compound survives processing. This is decided on the boat.
- Sand and foreign matter
- Beach drying picks up sand. It is the most common complaint on this product and it is a processing question rather than a fishing one.
How it is packed.
- Cartons with a liner
- Lined cartons or vacuum packs by grade. Dried fish takes up moisture and the liner is what stops it.
- Frozen for the top grades
- Premium material often ships frozen to hold colour and prevent insect damage on a long voyage.
- Insects in transit
- Dried fish attracts pests, and infestation found at arrival can condemn a consignment. Packaging and treatment belong in the specification.
Where it grows.
North Sulawesi
Sulawesi
Fishing and drying around Bitung, with processors used to export grading.
Java north coast
Java
A long-established fishery and drying tradition, with the best container access in the country.
Southeast Sulawesi
Sulawesi
Island fisheries with dried anchovy as a village industry, and a registered origin at Waburensi.
Maluku
Maluku
Rich fishing grounds and long domestic legs before a container port.
Origins with a protected name.
Names the trade contracts on, most of them on the Indonesian register of geographical indications.
Documentation, where applicable.
- Health certificate
- Issued by the Indonesian competent authority against the destination's requirements for fishery products.
- EU approved establishment
- For European entry the processing plant has to appear on the approved list before anything ships.
- Catch certificate
- Wild-caught fish entering the European Union needs one, validated by the flag state authority.1
- Certificate of analysis
- Histamine, salt, moisture and microbiology on the shipped lot.
Questions buyers ask.
Why is the white grade so much more expensive?
Because it requires the fish to be boiled and dried within hours of capture, intact, without sand. That means a boat and a drying operation organised around quality rather than volume. The colour is not cosmetic, it is a record of how fast the work was done.
What causes the sand complaint?
Drying on open ground or on a beach. Raised racks and a clean drying floor solve it and they cost money, which is why the cheapest offers carry the problem. It is worth inspecting the drying area rather than the finished bag.
Does the EU catch certificate apply?
Yes, for wild-caught fish entering the European Union, and it has to be validated before the goods travel. Small pelagic fisheries with many small boats make this administratively heavier than it looks, so ask early whether the exporter has done it before.
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
- 1Council Regulation (EC) No 1005/2008 on illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing. EUR-Lex. Checked 3 August 2026.