Seafood
Indonesian yellowfin tuna
Indonesia ships yellowfin tuna fresh and frozen, cut into loins, saku blocks and steaks. Two things have to be in place before a consignment can enter the European Union, and neither can be arranged afterwards: a catch certificate validated by the flag state, and a processing plant already on the EU list of approved establishments.
How it leaves the country.
- Fresh or frozen
- Fresh flies and is priced accordingly. Frozen goes by reefer container. These are different supply chains with different plants, and usually different buyers.
- Cuts
- Whole gilled-and-gutted, loin, saku block and steak. The further the cut goes, the more of the yield decision sits with the plant and the less with you.
- Treatment
- Carbon monoxide treatment holds the red colour. Whether it is allowed depends on the destination market, and it has to be declared either way. Ask before the first sample.
How it is graded.
There is no national grade table for tuna. It is contracted on the cut, on a graded sample and on the temperature the chain has to hold, which means the words in your contract are doing all of the work.
- Sashimi grades
- Assessed on colour, fat and texture from a cut sample. The letters are a convention between buyer and packer with no published standard behind them.
- What to specify
- Species, cut, grade, treatment, glazing, packing, and the temperature the chain must hold end to end.
- Histamine
- Tuna is a scombroid species, so the destination sets a histamine limit. Whether a lot passes is decided by how the fish was handled in the first hours after landing.
How it is packed.
- Cold chain
- Frozen product moves in a reefer set to a temperature named in the contract. Sashimi programmes run colder than commodity frozen, and the gap between them is wide enough to matter.
- Presentation
- Vacuum-packed by piece, interleaved and cartoned. Glazing percentage forms part of the price and belongs in writing.
Where it grows.
Bitung
North Sulawesi
Tuna landing and processing hub for the Sulawesi Sea and the Pacific side.
Benoa
Bali
A long-established tuna port, and the usual answer for fresh airfreight programmes out of Denpasar.
Ambon
Maluku
Landing point for the eastern grounds, with processing that has grown up around them.
Choosing between this and something else.
Origins with a protected name.
Names the trade contracts on, most of them on the Indonesian register of geographical indications.
Documentation, where applicable.
- Catch certificate
- For the EU. Issued and validated by the flag state to show the fish was not caught illegally. The regime covers imported wild-caught seafood as a whole and is not specific to tuna.1
- Approved establishment number
- The processing plant has to already appear on the EU approved list. A plant that is absent from it cannot be added in time for your order.2
- Export health certificate
- Issued by the Indonesian competent authority against the public health requirements of the destination, and travelling with the consignment.2
- HACCP system
- A system that runs at the plant. Nothing about it travels with the consignment, but it is what the health certificate rests on.
Questions buyers ask.
Can any Indonesian plant ship tuna to the EU?
No. The establishment has to already appear on the European Union's list of approved plants for fishery products. This is the first thing to check about a supplier and not the last, because a plant that is missing from the list cannot be added to it on your timeline.
What is the catch certificate for?
It is the European Union's answer to illegal fishing. The flag state of the vessel validates that the catch was legal, and without that validation the consignment does not enter. It is issued upstream of the processor, so it has to be arranged with the order and not with the shipment.
Fresh or frozen?
Fresh means airfreight, a short window and a price that reflects both. Frozen means a reefer container and a completely different cost structure. Very few plants do both well, so the choice also decides which suppliers are worth approaching.
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.
- 2Entering the European market for fresh tuna. CBI, Netherlands Enterprise Agency. Checked 3 August 2026.