Comparison

Rattan, water hyacinth or seagrass.

Rattan is a climbing palm strong enough to be a frame. Water hyacinth and seagrass are woven surfaces over a frame made of something else. Buyers who order water hyacinth expecting rattan's structure get furniture that fails, and the price difference is what tempts them.

Side by side.

Criterion	RattanA climbing palm. Solid cane, structural.	Water hyacinthA dried aquatic weed, twisted into cord.	SeagrassA dried marine grass, spun into a rope.
Structural or surface	Structural. A rattan pole is a frame member in its own right.	Surface only. It is wrapped over a frame of metal, wood or rattan.	Surface only, with the same requirement for a frame underneath.
Feel	Hard and smooth. Reads as furniture rather than as basketry.	Soft, matt, slightly irregular. The texture is the whole point.	Firmer and shinier than hyacinth, with a distinct green tone when new.
Humidity	Stable in normal interiors. Very dry heated air can make cane brittle over years.	The weak one. It takes up damp readily and mould follows, so it is an indoor material in a dry room.	More tolerant than hyacinth and still an indoor material.
Outdoor use	Natural rattan is not an outdoor material. Synthetic rattan is a plastic product and a different trade.	No.	No.
Supply¹	Indonesia restricts export of the raw material to protect its own weaving industry, so finished goods are what you buy.	Abundant, fast-growing and cheap, which is exactly why it spread through the trade.	Coastal harvest, seasonal, and quality varies with the drying.
Where it goes wrong	Thin cane on a piece that needed thick, and joints bound rather than pinned.	Shipped damp. It arrives with mould through the weave and the container smells of it.	Uneven colour across a set, because the drying differed batch to batch.

Which to choose.

The piece has to carry weight through the woven material: Rattan. The other two need a frame.
You want the soft matt texture at a low price: Water hyacinth, indoors only, with moisture at loading specified.
You want texture with more resilience than hyacinth: Seagrass, and specify colour consistency across the order.
It is going on a terrace: None of the three. That is a synthetic weave or a hardwood question.

Questions buyers ask.

Why is water hyacinth so much cheaper?

Because it is an invasive weed that grows faster than anyone can harvest it, and because it does a smaller job. It is a surface, and the frame under it does the work. Comparing its price to rattan's is comparing a covering to a structure.

Will water hyacinth furniture survive in Europe?

Indoors in a normal dry interior, yes, for years. In a conservatory, a bathroom or an unheated room it will take up moisture and grow mould, and that is a material property rather than a manufacturing fault. Specify the room before you specify the material.

Can I buy raw rattan cane from Indonesia?

Export of the raw material is restricted, and that policy exists specifically to keep the weaving work in the country. What that means for a buyer is that Indonesia is a place to buy finished and semi-finished rattan goods rather than material to weave elsewhere.

How do I stop a mouldy container?

Moisture content at loading, in writing, and an inspection that measures it rather than looking at it. Woven natural fibre packed damp in a tropical container arrives ruined, and it is the single most common claim on this category.

Still deciding?

Tell us the application and the market. We will say which one your specification actually needs, and quote both if it is genuinely close.

Sources

1What the Indonesian rattan export ban means for markets and collectors. Forest Policy and Economics. Checked 3 August 2026.