Wicker furniture

[Georgebulldog]

Can anyone tell me if they had any problems with wicker furniture.
I had 2 removals companies in last week & 1 said no you can't take it & the other sai it would be fine. I'm talking a childs wicker chair from Ikea, adults from the Pier & a few wicker toy trollies, as far as I can see the wicker isnt hollow so any help would be great.
Also if I did take it & MAF said it had to be cleaned at a cost more than it's worth am I able to say distroy it instead?
Thanks
Lindsey

[kanatakiwi]

Sorry can't answer your specific questions, but wanted to let you know there has been a bit of buzz in the NZ media about bugs in imported furniture. Most of its from Asia, but then a lot of Pier furniture is from Asia originally. So I am thinking MAF is going to be stepping up checking furniture and fumigating. Wicker might be a prime candidate, with lots of it originating from Asia, here's a story from the NZ Herald, there has been quite a bit on it lately so you could search the herald website for more.

Herald story:
Meanwhile, unwanted pests have also been hitchhiking into the country in imported furniture.

Biosecurity said wooden furniture imported from Asia, particularly China, posed a significant biosecurity risk.

Since 1988 there had been 83 detections of exotic organisms associated with imported furniture entering New Zealand, of which 41 per cent came from China, Indonesia and Thailand.

More than half the detections happened "post-border" after biosecurity clearance had been issued, with many being detected by members of the public.

On several occasions investigators found borer holes covered up with putty.

Further investigations noted some Chinese furniture manufacturers put good quality wood on visible surfaces and poor quality - insect damaged or bark covered - timber in internal sections of the furniture.

Currently, voluntary fumigation of furniture by importers was helping keep the pest risk low.
- NZPA

[victoria]

I would advise you to email MAF with your question. I did & they answered very quickly & exactly on my points. We did bring a lloyd loom chair which was painted & was ok but MAF still did a thorough check.

[Jo Jo]

You can bring cane furniture, but it will need to be inspected. As an aside, Lloyd Loom furniture isn't actually made from cane or wicker - it's made from paper wrapped round wire.

[victoria]

The frame is cane & the seat base & back are made of paper.

[Jo Jo]

The frame of my Lloyd Loom chair is steam bent beech, but maybe they vary depending on the date and country of manufacture.

[Familyofmonkeys]

Yes, you can bring wicker, sea grass, cane etc. MAF will inspect it, and it could potentially need fumigating...which is not as expensive as people think. Most of the time this in not neccesary with indoor furniture though. Moving companies often say no, but only as it may require more paperwork on their part if MAF take some of your stuff for cleaning (which the return fairly quickly to you directly once done).