The Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) says there is no evidence slabs of swamp kauri exported as table tops are being remanufactured overseas and made into other products.
MPI is being challenged in the High Court by the Northland Environmental Protection Society, which says hundreds of tonnes of the ancient timber are being shipped overseas in an unfinished state.
The Forests Act 1949 states only swamp kauri stumps or products which are finished and don't need any other modifications are allowed to be exported.
A lawyer for MPI, Jessica Gorman, says "there is nothing before the Court that suggests table tops are being turned into a house or a boat. I think it's important to calm the fires that are being stoked by the plaintiff".
However, the judge hearing the case, Justice Kit Toogood, responded saying that despite a lack of evidence "the reality is that [slabs of swamp kauri] are not being exported as table tops. They are being exported for other use."
Lawyers for the environmental group have shown the court photos of 40-foot-slabs of wood advertised on foreign websites which they say are never going to be used as table tops, and are clearly in an unfinished state. They say it's clearly a "sham industry".
Internal emails read out in court suggested a level of confusion about what could in fact be allowed out of the country. But MPI says there's no confusion and that it's been constantly improving the way it monitors exports of swamp kauri, and each consignment is inspected on a "case by case basis".
The regulator has submitted that the timber is mainly taken from swamps and not protected wetlands and that table tops do not require legs to function as a table.
"Not all table tops will be attached to a base. Some will have legs, others could sit on another piece of wood or on a rock," said Ms Gorman.
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