Furniture, wood & rattan
Pumice
Pumice is a volcanic rock full of gas bubbles, which makes it light, porous and abrasive. Indonesia has substantial deposits, notably on Lombok. It is a low-value bulk mineral, so the sizing, the moisture and the freight arithmetic decide whether an order works.
How it leaves the country.
- Horticultural grades
- Screened to a size range for growing media, drainage and soil conditioning. Sold by volume rather than by weight.
- Construction aggregate
- Lightweight aggregate for blocks and screeds, where the low density is the point.
- Abrasive grades
- Milled or screened for surface finishing and cleaning products.
- Stones
- Whole pieces for personal care and for textile finishing.
How it is graded.
Bought on particle size and on cleanliness. Both are screening questions, and how well a supplier screens is the whole difference between two offers.
- Particle size range
- Screened to stated limits, with a tolerance for oversize and fines. Fines are what a horticultural buyer is most annoyed by.
- Bulk density
- The commercial measure for a light aggregate. It decides how much you get per container and how the material performs.
- Moisture
- Pumice is porous and absorbs water. Wet material means you paid freight on water, and it changes the bulk density you measured.
- Cleanliness
- Soil, clay and organic matter from the deposit. It matters most for horticultural and abrasive uses.
- Hardness and friability
- Whether the particles survive handling or break down into fines. Handling and transport both test it.
- Permit position
- A mined mineral, so the supplier's mining and export permits are a different set from a food exporter's and worth checking first.
How it is packed.
- Bulk bags
- One-tonne bags or smaller, sized for how the buyer handles material. Bag quality decides whether it arrives intact.
- Volume against weight
- Light material, so a container fills long before it weighs out. Cost per cubic metre delivered is the figure that matters.
- Dry loading
- Loaded wet, the material is heavier and the bulk density figure you bought against is wrong.
- Dust
- Handling generates fine dust. Both loading and receiving need to account for it.
Where it grows.
West Nusa Tenggara
Lesser Sunda
Lombok deposits, the best-known Indonesian source, with processing and screening near the extraction.
West Java
Java
Volcanic deposits with processing serving domestic construction more than export.
North Sulawesi
Sulawesi
Volcanic material with limited processing capacity oriented to local use.
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
- Particle size distribution, bulk density and moisture on the shipped lot.
- Weight and quality certificate
- Independent verification at loading, which on a bulk mineral is worth its cost.
- Certificate of origin
- Which form applies depends on the destination and the preference scheme in force with Indonesia.
- Phytosanitary certificate
- For horticultural use, some destinations regulate growing media imports. Confirm the position for yours before ordering.1
Questions buyers ask.
Why is pumice sold by volume rather than weight?
Because the material is mostly air and the buyer is filling a space rather than buying mass. Bulk density connects the two figures and it moves with moisture, which is why moisture is specified.
Can I import it as a growing medium?
Some destinations regulate the import of growing media for plant health reasons. It is a question for your own authority before ordering rather than an assumption.
What ruins a shipment?
Fines and moisture. Material that broke down in handling or was loaded wet arrives as something other than what you specified, and both are preventable at loading.
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.