Essential oils & personal care
Jamu botanicals
Jamu is the Indonesian herbal tradition, built on rhizomes: temulawak, kencur, red ginger, turmeric and others. As export ingredients they are bought on identity, active content and contaminants, and what you may say about them is decided entirely by your own market.
How it leaves the country.
- Dried slices
- Cleaned, sliced and dried. The base form for extraction and for tea blends.
- Powder
- Milled dried material. Convenient, and it is where identity testing matters most because a powder hides everything.
- Standardised extract
- Concentrated and standardised on a marker compound. What supplement formulators buy.
- Finished jamu products
- Made in Indonesia under local regulation. A different purchase with registration and claims attached in your market.
How it is graded.
Identity first, then actives, then contaminants. Buyers who start with price in this category end up with the wrong plant.
- Species identity
- Temulawak is Curcuma xanthorrhiza, kencur is Kaempferia galanga, red ginger is a Zingiber officinale variety. Related species are cheaper and substitution is common.
- Marker compound
- For extracts, the standardised figure a formulator doses against. For dried material it is what a laboratory confirms identity with.
- Mould toxins
- Tropical rhizomes dried in a humid climate. This is what stops consignments at European borders and it is decided during drying.
- Heavy metals
- Rhizomes take up what is in the soil. Testing on the shipped lot rather than on a reference sample.
- Microbiological load
- Dried root material carries a high count. Which reduction treatment was used matters, because some are restricted where you sell.
- Foreign matter
- Soil and stones from ground drying. Visible in slices and invisible in powder, which is an argument for buying slices.
How it is packed.
- Lined bags in cartons
- Dried rhizome reabsorbs moisture and moulds. The liner is the defence over a long voyage.
- Volume
- Dried slices are bulky. Powder ships denser and gives up the ability to inspect by eye.
- Aroma
- Strongly aromatic material transfers smell to other cargo. Do not consolidate with neutral goods.
- Pest control
- Dried plant material in a tropical warehouse. Storage discipline before loading is part of the specification.
Where it grows.
Central Java
Java
The heartland of jamu, with growing, drying and a long-established herbal industry.
East Java
Java
Rhizome growing at volume with processing and extraction capability.
West Java
Java
Cultivation and extraction closer to Jakarta and to laboratory infrastructure.
Documentation, where applicable.
- Certificate of analysis
- Identity, marker compound, mould toxins, heavy metals and microbiology on the shipped lot.
- Phytosanitary certificate
- Dried plant material, so plant health applies and treatment may be required.1
- Organic certificate
- Available from certified growers, and the certifier has to be one your market accepts.2
- BPOM registration
- Indonesian regulation covers traditional medicine domestically, and a registration number signals a producer working to a formal standard.3
Questions buyers ask.
Can I sell jamu ingredients as supplements?
That depends on your market, and some botanicals need authorisation or are restricted. Establish the regulatory status of the specific species before ordering rather than after.
What claims can I make?
Traditional Indonesian use is not a permitted claim in most regulated markets. Settle the wording with someone who knows your market before designing packaging around a benefit.
How do I avoid getting the wrong species?
Identity testing on the shipped lot, and buying slices rather than powder where you can. Related Curcuma and Kaempferia species are cheaper and substitution is a known problem.
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.
- 2Regulation (EU) 2018/848 on organic production and labelling. EUR-Lex. Checked 3 August 2026.
- 3Badan Pengawas Obat dan Makanan, the food and drug authority. BPOM, Republic of Indonesia. Checked 3 August 2026.