Seafood
South Sea pearls
Indonesia is a major producer of South Sea pearls, farmed from the silver-lipped oyster Pinctada maxima in the eastern islands. Value is set by five characteristics rather than by size alone, and nacre thickness is the one that decides whether a pearl lasts.
How it leaves the country.
- Loose pearls
- Sold by piece or by lot, graded and matched. The trade most international buyers deal in.
- Matched strands
- Assembled from many harvests to match size, colour and lustre. Matching is a skill and it is most of the price of a strand.
- Baroque and circled
- Irregular shapes, sold at a fraction of round prices and increasingly wanted by designers.
- Keshi
- Pearls formed without a nucleus, entirely nacre. A by-product of the farming, with its own market.
How it is graded.
Five characteristics, and buyers new to the category usually overweight the first and underweight the last.
- Nacre thickness
- How much pearl there is over the nucleus. Thin nacre wears through and the pearl fails, and it is the least visible characteristic at the point of sale.
- Lustre
- How sharply the surface reflects. It is what makes a pearl look alive and it is largely a function of nacre quality.
- Surface
- Blemishes, pits and marks. Perfectly clean surfaces are rare, and the tolerance is a commercial decision rather than a defect count.
- Shape
- Round commands the most, then near-round, drop, button, baroque. Each has its own market rather than being a downgrade.
- Colour and overtone
- White, silver, gold and cream with overtones. Golden pearls from this region are a distinct and premium category.
- Size
- Measured in millimetres. It matters and it is the characteristic buyers fixate on at the expense of nacre and lustre.
How it is packed.
- Sealed and inventoried
- High value per kilo, so packing is about security and documentation rather than about protection from the weather.
- Insurance and declared value
- Specialist cover rather than ordinary marine insurance. Arrange it before shipment rather than at the airport.
- Courier or hand carry
- Almost always air, with a specialist handler. The transport decision is a security decision.
- Documentation
- Description, weight, count and value have to match across every document, because this is a category customs examines.
Where it grows.
West Nusa Tenggara
Lesser Sunda
Lombok and Sumbawa waters, with established farms and a domestic trading centre.
West Papua and Raja Ampat
Papua
Clean, warm water suiting Pinctada maxima, with farms in remote locations.
North Maluku
Maluku
Long-standing pearl farming areas in the eastern archipelago.
Bali
Bali
Trading, sorting and jewellery manufacture rather than farming.
Documentation, where applicable.
- Certificate of origin
- Which form applies depends on the destination and the preference scheme in force with Indonesia.
- Invoice and packing list
- Count, weight, size and value per line. On high-value goods the description has to be exact.1
- Marine insurance certificate
- Specialist valuables cover rather than standard cargo terms.
- Health certificate
- Not usually required for worked pearls, and worth confirming for your destination since molluscs sit in a regulated category.
Questions buyers ask.
What actually determines the price?
Lustre and nacre thickness more than size, though size is what buyers notice first. A large pearl with thin nacre and dull lustre is worth much less than a smaller one with neither problem.
How do I check nacre thickness?
It is not visible by eye. Independent laboratory examination is the answer, and for any significant purchase it is worth the cost.
Are Indonesian pearls different from Australian ones?
Same species in much of the trade, farmed in different waters, and the colour range and average size differ. Judge the goods rather than the country.
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
- 1Incoterms 2020: FCA or FOB?. ICC Academy, International Chamber of Commerce. Checked 3 August 2026.