Agriculture & food
Dried herbs and aromatics
Lemongrass, pandan, salam leaf and kaffir lime leaf are the aromatic backbone of Indonesian cooking. Dried, they become a low-value high-volume trade where the whole question is how much aroma survived the drying and what came with it.
How it leaves the country.
- Whole dried leaf
- Salam and lime leaf, dried whole. Fragile, bulky and where most of the aroma is retained.
- Cut and sifted
- Lemongrass and pandan cut to a size for tea, seasoning and extraction. Specified by cut rather than described.
- Powder
- Milled for seasoning blends. Loses aroma fastest and is the easiest form to adulterate.
- Frozen
- For buyers who need the fresh character, at a completely different cost and logistics.
How it is graded.
Judged on aroma, colour and cleanliness. All three are decided by drying, and drying in a wet climate is where this category succeeds or fails.
- Aroma retention
- The reason to buy the product. Over-hot or slow drying strips it, and a lot that smells of nothing is worthless regardless of how it looks.
- Colour
- Green leaf that dried well stays green. Brown or grey indicates heat damage, rain during drying or age.
- Moisture
- Too high and it moulds in the bag over a long voyage. It is the most common arrival failure in this category.
- Mould toxins
- Tropical dried plant material dried on the ground. Testing on the shipped lot is what stops a consignment being rejected at a European border.
- Foreign matter
- Soil, stones and other plant material. Ground drying is cheap and it shows here.
- Microbiological load
- Dried herbs carry a high count unless treated. Which treatment was used matters, because irradiation and some fumigants are restricted in various markets.
How it is packed.
- Volume, not weight
- Dried leaf is almost all air. Compressed bales or dense cut forms are the only way the freight makes sense.
- Moisture barrier
- Lined bags. Product that reabsorbs moisture in a container moulds, and it is visible on arrival rather than at loading.
- Aroma transfer
- Strongly aromatic goods flavour other cargo. Do not consolidate with tea, coffee or anything neutral.
- Pest control
- Dried plant material in a tropical warehouse. Storage discipline before loading is part of the specification.
Where it grows.
West Java
Java
Widespread cultivation of all four aromatics with processing close to Jakarta.
Central Java
Java
Smallholder growing with drying and cutting capacity.
East Java
Java
Production feeding the seasoning and food manufacturing industry.
North Sumatra
Sumatra
Lime leaf and lemongrass growing with a route out through Belawan.
Documentation, where applicable.
- Phytosanitary certificate
- Dried plant material, so plant health applies and treatment may be required.1
- Certificate of analysis
- Moisture, mould toxins, microbiology and pesticide residues on the shipped lot.
- Fumigation certificate
- Where the destination or the carrier requires treatment, and the method has to be permitted where you sell.
- Certificate of origin
- Which form applies depends on the destination and the preference scheme in force with Indonesia.
Questions buyers ask.
Why does my dried lemongrass smell of nothing?
It was dried too hot or too slowly, or it is old. Aroma retention is the whole product here and it cannot be recovered afterwards, so it belongs in the specification and in the sample approval.
How is the microbiological count controlled?
By steam treatment, irradiation or fumigation depending on the plant. Which method was used matters commercially, because some are restricted or must be declared in your market.
Is the freight really that bad?
For whole leaf, yes. It is almost entirely air, so a container fills long before it weighs out and the cost per kilo of product is high. Cut and compressed forms improve it considerably.
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.