Why Rattan Furniture Is So Expensive | So Expensive

Rattan is a naturally renewable climbing palm typically used in furniture labeled as wicker, which is the term for how it’s woven. And the price tag for this furniture is usually high: a real rattan chair can cost over $1,000, and as a material, it’s almost three times the price of bamboo! But getting rattan is complicated. What makes it so hard to harvest? And is that the reason it’s so expensive?

EDITOR'S NOTE: At 7:03 in this video, we state that Sarimanto sells 1 kilogram of raw rattan for about 7 cents. This is incorrect. He sells one kilogram of raw rattan for about $14 cents. This would mean that farmers in the 1980s were getting 5 times, not 10 times, as much for the same amount. Insider regrets the error.

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Why Rattan Is So Expensive | So Expensive

[freeman]

Its sad how almost every video in this series ends up with the farmers getting pennies, not being able to afford necessities, just for the finished product to cost more than they would see in their lifetime, I really hope Business Insider pays them a good amount for these videos.

[tongsampah]

They talk about how expensive it is, I just remember being beaten with it.

[hw]

Rattan is accessible here in the Philippines. They also dont cost an extreme amount of money. I guess what makes it expensive are these big companies outside of Asia then sell them so high!

[MONi_LALA]

My mom would be so mad to know someone purchased a rattan furniture for $2000. It almost give her a heart attack when she saw all this rattan stuff sold in IKEA for more than $5.

[whitepouch]

I live in SEA. I didn't know it's difficult to harvest rattan. Furnitures and items were abundant back in the days and pretty cheap too.

[julesoxana]

As someone from borneo it shocks me how expensive it is outside indonesia/SEA hope the govt and people continue to take care of our forests and workers

[TWidyan]

I'm Indonesian, when I was a kid, in the 90's. We used to have rattan rocking chair. It used to be cheaper than a regular wooden rocking chair. The difference between furniture made of rattan with wood is when the one made of rattan breaks or rotten, it cannot be easily repaired unlike the one made of wood.

[dotta]

20$ locally, 100$ on the international market.
So the answer is: it’s so expensive because companies are exploiting local producers and overcharging 400%.

[sadnightdynamite]

Let's be honest, in that 35$, the actual farmer/worker most probably gets only a dollar or two.

[clairmac]

the farmers being underpaid isn't really an industry issue but a government one. There needs to be a middle ground limit the amount sold overseas and keep it to small farmer cooperatives instead of large corporations. Also to make it affordable to weavers make so x percentage of harvest has to be sold local. Like 40% international, 60% local.

[aisadal]

No wonder why it's so iconic in Animal Crossing

[benzpinto]

the farmer is very strong to carry 70kg of rattan by himself all the way from harvest site to his boat. the people that bought the rattan had to carry them in a group.

[ianlee]

People in the SEA region recognise rattan not only as furniture but primarily as a punishment tool.

[tonyliem]

The Rules that have been issued by the Indonesia government are always difficult to cancel (Because there are many underlying reasons why the rules are difficult to cancel). And I as an Indonesian feel sad to see this happen. Although on the one hand I also don't want deforestation to occur in Indonesia's forests.

[gsastudio-archl]

Furniture made from rattan became popular outside southeast asia during American occupation in the Philippines. These furnitures was mass produced by prisoners in Bilibid Prison in the Philippines back in the 80s and was sold to and imported to America.

[xXxSkyViperxXx]

in the philippines, rattan furniture is considered the traditional filipino furniture. so many household products and furniture are made with them before that they became iconic to the traditional filipino household

[Jzhongzhi]

It only cost so much if you buy it from some upscale retailer overcharging you.
Come to SEA and you can get it for cheap from a bunch of local sellers.
Source: I live in SEA and I have no idea the chair I bought for $20 is apparently worth $2000.

[friaspr]

We have a 50 year old rattan dining table with 6 chairs and we love it, it was previously painted with cheap white paint and I painted with a spray gun in a mint teal color and it looks amazing.

[satriaamiluhur]

Crazy how they're so expensive when the farmers and harvesters almost always live in extreme poverty

[ihola]

Here in the Philippines, it is very rare nowadays to get hold of rattan. Since there are not many farmers that harvest rattan and not many rattan farms or areas that are planted by rattan. If there is any, usually foreign factories/companies get these rattan for their products.