Thailand mulls to cut exports of natural rubber

BANGKOK, March 8 (TNA) - The Thai government is considering to cut exports of natural rubber in accordance with a resolution of a recent meeting with the Indonesian and the Malaysian governments under the framework of the International Tripartite Rubber Council (ITRC). Agriculture and Cooperatives Minister Grisada Boonrach told journalists that the Thai government, through his ministry, has acknowledged the resolution of the recent special senior technical officials' meeting of the world's three largest natural rubber exporting countries under the ITRC framework. Grisada stated that at the meeting, representatives of his ministry and those of the Indonesian and the Malaysian relevant ministries resolved to cut natural rubber exports of the three countries by 240,000 tons totally under the framework of the ITRC Agreed Export Tonnage Scheme (AETS), aimed to reduce the natural rubber supply and to boost the produce prices on the world market. "Thailand has agreed in principle of the resolution of the recent ITRC's meeting. However, the incumbent military government considers it should be more appropriate to forward the issue to the newly-elected administration to take action after it fully takes office by late May 2019, following the country's new general election later this month, on March 24", the minister said. According to the Thai minister, he has been informed that the Indonesian and the Malaysian governments will start cutting the two neighboring countries' natural rubber exports over the next four months, based on the resolution of the recent ITRC's meeting, as of April 1, 2019. Besides, Indonesia and Malaysia have expressed their interest in applying, as a model, Thailand's one village, one kilometer of Para rubber soil cement road project, under which locally-grown natural rubber is a compound of the construction of community roads nationwide, to their domestic road construction projects. The Thai minister revealed that the recent ITRC's meeting also agreed on the establishment of a joint venture of the Indonesian, the Malaysian and the Thai governments in charge of the integrated management of marketing strategies on natural rubber, including becoming a corporate trader of natural rubber future markets, which will help keep natural rubber prices stable on the world market in the long run. (TNA)