Indonesian agarwood: Kalimantan, Sumatra and Papua

Indonesia is widely described as the most species-diverse agarwood producing country in the world, and it is one of the largest by export volume. Where most producing countries rely on one or two main species, Indonesia's agarwood industry, known as gaharu, spans much of both genera covered in Aquilaria vs Gyrinops, harvested across an archipelago that stretches from Sumatra to Papua.

This guide covers what is documented about Indonesia's species, regional sourcing, grading and the CITES quota system that governs its legal exports.

Gaharu: Indonesia's agarwood industry

Gaharu is the Indonesian and Malay word for agarwood, used throughout Indonesia's trade, regulation and research. Compared with several other major producers, Indonesia's industry has relied more heavily on harvest from natural forest, although plantation cultivation has expanded there too, for the reasons covered in wild vs plantation agarwood.

The most species-diverse producing country

A large share of the recognised Aquilaria and Gyrinops species occur in Indonesia, more than in any other single country. That breadth is part of why Indonesian gaharu spans such a wide range of regional names, grades and prices compared with single-species origins such as Vietnam and Cambodia, where Aquilaria crassna dominates.

Two geographic groups: Malaccensis and Filaria

Indonesian research and regulation conventionally divide the country's agarwood species into two geographic groups, each named after its dominant species. The Malaccensis group covers western Indonesia, mainly Sumatra and Kalimantan, and includes Aquilaria malaccensis, Aquilaria microcarpa, Aquilaria beccariana and Aquilaria hirta. The Filaria group covers eastern Indonesia, including Papua, Maluku and Nusa Tenggara, and includes Aquilaria filaria and Aquilaria cumingiana alongside several Gyrinops species such as Gyrinops versteegii, Gyrinops ledermannii and Gyrinops caudata.

The grouping also shapes how Indonesia manages its CITES export quotas, covered below. Rather than setting a separate quota for every species, the system has historically managed the two groups as broad categories.

Sumatra, Kalimantan, Papua and beyond

In the west, Sumatra and Kalimantan, Indonesian Borneo, are the main sources of Aquilaria malaccensis and related species. In the east, Papua is a principal source of Aquilaria filaria, alongside parts of Maluku, while Gyrinops versteegii is closely associated with islands in Nusa Tenggara such as Lombok, Sumbawa and Flores. Trade names such as "Kalimantan," "Papua" or "Merauke" usually refer to these regional sources, although, as with any origin label, the name on its own is a claim rather than proof.

How Indonesian gaharu is graded

Indonesia's national standard for gaharu, part of the SNI series, broadly divides the material into gubal, resin-impregnated wood with substantial resin, kemedangan, a lower resin grade, and abu or serbuk, gaharu powder, with criteria based on colour, weight and scent. Beneath these broad classes, traders use many more detailed regional grade names, including "super" grades and letter grades, and research on gaharu from different provinces documents a wide range of them.

As in other producing countries, these names are not applied consistently, and the same grade name can describe different material from one region or trader to the next. Researchers have worked on chemistry-based grading methods, but trade grading in Indonesia still relies mainly on colour, weight and smell. Our guide to how agarwood is graded covers how to read grade names.

Indonesia's CITES quota system

Indonesia has one of the more formally structured CITES management systems among agarwood producers. It was Indonesia that proposed extending CITES Appendix II to all Aquilaria and Gyrinops species at the 2004 conference. Its national science agency, formerly the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) and now part of the National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN), acts as the CITES Scientific Authority, providing the species and population data used to judge sustainable harvest levels. The Ministry of Environment and Forestry sets and issues annual harvest and export quotas.

Quotas are set through a non-detriment finding process, drawing on field sampling in producing areas and production data from exporters, forestry offices, traders and farmers, and have historically been allocated by the two species groups. Quota levels are reviewed and can change from one cycle to the next. An industry body, the Indonesian Gaharu Exporters Association (ASGARIN), works with the authorities to coordinate harvesting and distribute quota among its members.

Indonesian agarwood in the market today

Indonesia remains one of the largest sources of agarwood in global trade, drawing on a far wider species base than most other origins. For buyers, that breadth cuts both ways. It means a wider range of genuine regional character and price than almost any other origin, but it also means species and regional claims such as "Kalimantan," "Papua" or "Super" are harder to verify without documentation, simply because there is more legitimate variety for misrepresentation to hide in. See questions to ask before you buy oud.