Furniture, wood & rattan
Indonesian rattan furniture
Rattan is a climbing palm, and Indonesia holds most of the world's supply. Since 2012 the country has restricted export of the raw material in order to keep the weaving industry at home, so what you buy from Indonesia is finished or near-finished furniture. Cirebon on Java is where most of it is made.
How it leaves the country.
- Finished furniture
- Chairs, loungers, tables and storage, woven over a frame. This is what the country actually exports.
- What you cannot buy
- Raw rattan cane as material. The export restriction has been in place since 2012 and it is the reason weaving capacity stayed in Indonesia.2
- The frame underneath
- Rattan is woven over a core, and the core can be rattan, another timber or steel. It changes the price and the outdoor performance, and it is invisible in a photograph.
How it is graded.
There is no grade table for woven furniture. What replaces it is a specification that names the weave, the core, the finish and the tolerance, because every one of those can be substituted without changing how the piece looks in a photograph.
- Material
- Rattan core, rattan peel, or a synthetic weave. Synthetic is a legitimate product with different outdoor behaviour, and it has to be named.
- What to specify
- Weave pattern, core material, joinery, finish, cushion specification, and the dimensional tolerance you will accept.
- Consistency
- This is handwork, so pieces vary. Agree the tolerance in writing and inspect against it, rather than discovering the range on arrival.
How it is packed.
- Shipped as
- Usually assembled, because a woven piece does not knock down the way a case good does. That makes volume the constraint on this product.
- Wood packaging
- Crates, pallets and dunnage are treated and marked under ISPM 15, whatever the furniture inside them is made of1
Where it grows.
Cirebon
West Java
The centre of the Indonesian rattan furniture industry, with the workshop density that makes small runs and custom weaves possible.
Trangsan
Central Java
A long-established weaving cluster near Surakarta, working alongside the Central Javanese furniture trade.
Kalimantan and Sulawesi
Borneo and Sulawesi
Where the cane itself is collected, mostly from forest rather than plantation, before it moves to the weaving centres on Java.
Who buys this.
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.
- Export restriction check
- Confirm that the article you are ordering may be exported in the form you want it. The boundary between raw, semi-processed and finished is set by trade regulation and has moved before.2
- ISPM 15 treatment mark
- On the wood packaging that travels with the goods: crates, pallets and dunnage.1
- Certificate of origin
- Which form applies depends on the destination and on the preference scheme in force between it and Indonesia.
Questions buyers ask.
Can I buy raw rattan cane from Indonesia?
As a general matter no. The country restricted export of the raw material in 2012 to keep the weaving industry domestic, and that is why Indonesian rattan reaches the world as furniture. If you need material rather than product, the honest answer is that Indonesia is the wrong origin for it.
How do I tell real rattan from synthetic?
Ask, and then inspect. Synthetic weave over an aluminium frame is a legitimate outdoor product and often the better choice for a hospitality contract, but it is a different thing at a different price, and it needs to be named in the specification rather than assumed.
Is rattan furniture suitable for outdoor use?
Natural rattan is an indoor material. It will not survive sustained weather, whatever the finish. Outdoor ranges built to last use synthetic weave, and a supplier who tells you otherwise about natural cane is worth a second look on everything else.
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
- 1ISPM 15, regulation of wood packaging material in international trade. International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC), FAO. Checked 3 August 2026.
- 2What the Indonesian rattan export ban means for markets and collectors. Forest Policy and Economics. Checked 3 August 2026.