Indonesia bans the export of raw, unprocessed rattan under Trade Regulation Permendag No. 38 of 2017. Semi-finished rattan and finished rattan furniture can still leave the country. For furniture buyers, the practical effect is simple: weaving, framing, and finishing all happen inside Indonesia, so you import finished goods — never raw cane.
That single rule shapes almost everything about sourcing woven furniture from Bali, Cirebon, or Surabaya. Below is what the regulation actually says, why it exists, and how to use it to your advantage as an importer, retailer, or hospitality buyer.
What Does Permendag 38/2017 Actually Prohibit?
Indonesia’s Ministry of Trade issued Regulation No. 38 of 2017 covering forestry-sector exports. For rattan, the rule draws a hard line between processing stages:
| Product stage | Export status | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Raw rattan (unprocessed cane) | Prohibited | Freshly harvested poles, unwashed cane |
| Semi-finished rattan | Allowed | Washed, sulfured, polished, or split cane; rattan core and peel |
| Finished rattan goods | Allowed | Chairs, sofas, daybeds, cabinets, baskets, lampshades |
Then-Trade Minister Enggartiasto Lukita, speaking in Cirebon and reported by ANTARA News, Indonesia’s state news agency, put it plainly: raw rattan cannot be exported, but the semi-finished material is allowed. The message to the market was that Indonesia would keep the processing work — and the jobs and margins attached to it — at home.
For a buyer, this means every legitimate rattan shipment leaving an Indonesian port is already value-added. There is no legal channel for a foreign factory to buy Indonesian cane, weave it abroad, and undercut Indonesian workshops with their own material.
Why Does Indonesia Keep Raw Rattan at Home?
Indonesia supplies a large share of the world’s commercial rattan, and the government treats that supply as industrial leverage rather than a commodity to sell off cheaply. The logic runs in three steps:
- Raw cane is cheap; woven goods are not. The margin sits in cleaning, bending, weaving, and finishing — labor-intensive stages Indonesia performs well.
- Exporting raw cane exports the jobs. Before restrictions, overseas factories bought Indonesian rattan, processed it abroad, and competed against Indonesian producers using Indonesia’s own material.
- Restricting cane pulls production onshore. Workshops in Cirebon and Bali now sit next to the world’s most secure rattan supply, which is why finished-goods clusters have grown there.
You can see the effect at every scale of woven product. Even a category as modest as rattan basket wholesale demonstrates the policy in miniature: the fiber, the weaver, and the finished basket stay in one supply chain until the goods are containerized — exactly the outcome the regulation was written to produce.
The result shows up in trade statistics. Indonesia’s rattan furniture exports under HS code 94038300 were worth about USD 14.6 million in 2024, and by that year the country’s rattan trade reached 69 countries with more than 400 active buyers. BPS-Statistics Indonesia reports that Bali Province alone exported goods worth US$634,496,917 in 2024, with furniture among its established categories.
What Does the Ban Mean for Furniture Buyers in Practice?
If you buy finished rattan furniture, the ban works in your favor. Here is how it plays out across the decisions that matter to an importer:
- Supply security sits with Indonesian workshops. Factories elsewhere in Asia that weave natural rattan must source material through narrower channels, since Indonesian raw cane is off the table. Buying finished goods from Indonesia puts you at the source.
- Origin is verifiable. Because the material never leaves Indonesia unprocessed, a certificate of origin on Indonesian rattan furniture reflects genuine local production — which matters for customs in markets such as Germany that require detailed country-of-origin documentation.
- The craft base is deep. Cirebon in West Java is the historic weaving cluster, the Pasuruan-Sidoarjo corridor is an active furniture zone, and Bali — particularly Jimbaran and Denpasar — is the design-led finishing and export hub where most export warehouses operate.
- Pricing is negotiated per specification. No regulation fixes furniture prices. Every USD figure quoted for Bali rattan pieces is indicative only, as of 2026 and subject to change; real pricing is quoted per piece and per spec from your item list.
One caution: the ban applies to raw rattan, not to your paperwork. A finished-furniture shipment still needs a commercial invoice, packing list, bill of lading, certificate of origin, and Indonesian export declaration. If your pieces carry teak, mahogany, or mindi wood frames, SVLK timber-legality documentation has been mandatory for wood furniture exports since 1 January 2015, and fumigation certificates apply to wooden items.
Could the Export Ban Change Again?
Yes — and honest suppliers say so. Indonesian rattan export policy has been contested for decades. A previous ban was lifted, then re-evaluated, before the current framework under Permendag 38/2017 settled the line at raw versus processed. Industry groups periodically lobby in both directions: growers sometimes push to sell cane abroad at higher prices, while furniture producers push to keep the material at home.
As of 2026, the prohibition on raw rattan exports remains in force, and exporting semi-finished and finished products remains legal. Treat that as the current state of the law, not a permanent guarantee. Sensible buyers do two things:
- Confirm the regulatory status at the time of each order rather than relying on a years-old summary.
- Work with exporters who follow Ministry of Trade announcements and can flag changes before they affect a shipment.
How Should Buyers Act on This Information?
The ban rewards buyers who go direct to Indonesian finished-goods suppliers instead of hunting for raw material or third-country assemblers. A workable sourcing sequence:
| Step | Action | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Shortlist Indonesian workshops (Bali, Cirebon, Pasuruan-Sidoarjo) | Production must happen in-country anyway |
| 2 | Send an item list with dimensions, weave style, and finish | Quotes are per piece, per spec — there is no standard price list |
| 3 | Plan a mixed 20ft or 40ft container that cubes out | Container efficiency, not a fixed MOQ, drives unit economics |
| 4 | Book FOB Semarang or Surabaya | The standard container ports for Java-Bali furniture cargo |
| 5 | Budget realistic lead times | Bali-to-Germany shipments typically run 6-10 weeks including production; Bali-to-Australia sea freight runs 2-6 weeks |
Indonesian artisans routinely adjust dimensions, finishes, and colors to buyer specification, so send drawings or reference photos with your enquiry — the clearer the spec, the tighter the quote.
The raw rattan export ban is not a trade barrier for furniture buyers. It is the reason the furniture you want is made where the material grows, by the people who have woven it for generations, in a supply chain you can document from forest to container.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I import raw rattan poles from Indonesia for my own factory?
No. Under Trade Regulation Permendag No. 38 of 2017, raw or unprocessed rattan may not be exported from Indonesia in any quantity. If you run an overseas workshop, your legal options are semi-finished Indonesian rattan — such as processed core or peel — or sourcing cane from other producing countries. Finished-goods buyers are unaffected.
Does the raw rattan ban make Indonesian furniture more expensive for importers?
Generally the opposite. Because cane stays onshore, Indonesian workshops hold the most direct access to material, while overseas competitors pay more to secure supply. Finished-piece pricing is still negotiated per specification — every figure quoted as of 2026 is indicative and subject to change — but the structural material advantage sits with Indonesian producers, not against them.
How do I verify a rattan shipment complies with the export rules?
Ask your exporter for the standard document set: commercial invoice, packing list, bill of lading, certificate of origin, and the Indonesian export declaration. Finished furniture clears legally under Permendag 38/2017. If wood frames are involved, confirm SVLK timber-legality paperwork, mandatory for wood furniture exports since 1 January 2015, plus fumigation certificates where the destination requires them.