Banjarmasin's favourable geographical location made it an ideal port of call for many foreign merchants. These traders had many origins, from Asian countries such as China and India, to European countries such as Britain and Netherlands. Bringing along products from their homeland, these foreign merchants would trade with the Banjarese traders for the local goods of Borneo: sandalwood, gold, diamonds and other natural products.

However, pepper soon dominated the trading scene in Banjarmasin. A spice highly valued by foreign merchants, it was abundantly grown in the area. As such, Banjarmasin soon became well known for the spice and many traders flocked to the area for it. Later on, its trade became tightly controlled by the Sultan, who used middlemen called Pembekals to directly buy pepper from the pepper farmers which was then sold to these foreign merchants. ("Pepper Trade and" 1491; Rochwulaningsih et al. 71)