How to Import Natural Stone from Indonesia
The process from first enquiry to delivered container, written for importers doing it for the first time — what to ask for, what to check, what the documents are, and where costs hide.
Importing stone is not complicated, but it has a specific sequence, and skipping steps in that sequence is what produces the problems importers usually attribute to "the supplier". This is the sequence.
1. The enquiry
A useful enquiry contains six things: material, finish, size and thickness, quantity, destination port, and required delivery date. An enquiry that says "please send price list for natural stone" gets a generic reply, because there is nothing specific to price.
If you are working from a drawing or a bill of quantities, send it. A supplier who can produce the take-off is doing work you would otherwise do yourself, and is also demonstrating whether they understand the application.
2. Quotation and Incoterms
Three terms cover almost all stone trade:
- FOB (Free On Board) — the price includes production, export packing, inland transport to the port, export clearance and loading. You arrange and pay for sea freight, insurance and everything at destination.
- CFR (Cost and Freight) — as FOB, plus sea freight to your named destination port. Insurance is yours.
- CIF (Cost, Insurance and Freight) — as CFR, plus marine insurance to the destination port.
None of them include destination customs duty, VAT/GST, port charges, or delivery from the port to your yard. First-time importers routinely budget CIF as a landed cost, and it is not. Ask your freight forwarder for an estimate of destination charges before you set your selling price.
3. Sampling
Never place a first order without a physical sample. Photographs cannot convey tone accurately, surface texture at all, or mesh quality in any respect.
Ask for samples in the exact material, finish and thickness you intend to order. A honed sample tells you nothing about how the bush hammered version will look. Keep one half of every approved sample as a retained control — it is your reference if a delivered batch is disputed.
4. Order confirmation and payment
The proforma invoice should state material, finish, size, thickness, quantity, unit price, total, Incoterm and named port, packing description, lead time, and payment terms. If any of those are missing, ask before paying.
Standard terms in this trade are 30% deposit with the balance against a copy bill of lading, or a letter of credit for larger orders. Full payment in advance to a new supplier is a risk you do not need to take.
5. Production and quality control
Ask for production photographs at two points: mid-production, and after packing but before the crates are closed. A supplier who declines is telling you something.
For a first order or a large one, third-party pre-shipment inspection is inexpensive relative to the value of a container and worth it. Specify what is to be checked: dimensions and tolerances, finish consistency, tonal match against the retained sample, mesh adhesion on mosaic, quantity count, and packing condition.
6. Packing — and ISPM 15
Stone must be packed on edge in crates, not stacked flat, with foam or bubble separation and steel or PET strapping. Flat-stacked stone breaks in transit because the load concentrates on the bottom pieces.
Wooden packing must be heat-treated or fumigated and stamped with the ISPM 15 mark. This is mandatory for almost every destination. A container arriving with unmarked wooden crates can be refused, fumigated at your cost, or destroyed at your cost. Confirm ISPM 15 compliance in writing before shipment — it is the single most avoidable customs problem in this trade.
7. Documentation
A standard document set for an Indonesian stone shipment is:
- Commercial invoice
- Packing list (crate by crate, with dimensions and weights)
- Bill of lading
- Certificate of origin — Form E, Form D or preferential form depending on your market and trade agreement
- Fumigation / ISPM 15 certificate
- Insurance certificate (CIF shipments)
Ask which certificate of origin applies to your market. In several ASEAN and partner markets the correct form materially reduces or eliminates import duty, and obtaining it after shipment is difficult.
8. Freight, clearance and delivery
Stone is heavy. A 20ft container is normally weight-limited rather than volume-limited: roughly 25–27 tonnes depending on the destination port's road-legal limit. Check that limit before loading — an overweight container can be legal at origin and undeliverable at destination.
Transit times from Java are approximately: Middle East 18–25 days; Europe 28–38 days; US East Coast 32–42 days; Australia 14–20 days; India and South Asia 10–16 days. Add port congestion and inland transit to those figures.
Where costs hide
- Destination port charges, THC and documentation fees — not in any Incoterm quoted from origin.
- Import duty and VAT/GST — check whether a preferential certificate of origin applies.
- Demurrage and detention if clearance is slow. Have your customs broker ready before the vessel arrives.
- Inland transport from port to yard, which for a 27-tonne container may require a specific vehicle.
- Breakage allowance. Well-packed stone travels well, but budget 1–2% on a first order.
- The reorder problem: ordering short and having to reorder means a second freight cost on a small quantity, plus a batch that may not match.
