KL urges tappers to return to work as rubber bounces back<\/p>\n
KUALA LUMPUR (AFP): As rubber prices continue to surge,
\nMalaysia urged smallholders yesterday to go back to tapping three
\nyears after they had been encouraged to quit the industry when
\nprices plunged to five-year lows.<\/p>\n
Primary Industries Minister Lim Keng Yaik said the upsurge
\nconfirmed the resilience of natural rubber as a viable cash crop
\nwhich could be tapped when prices were good or \"kept untapped in
\nthe trees\" when prices were poor.<\/p>\n
\"Therefore, it may still pay in the long run for plantation
\ncompanies, as well as the nation, to remain in natural rubber,
\nwhich may still have a bright future,\" Lim said.<\/p>\n
Lim said the current boom reflected successful joint efforts
\nby producers to coordinate and rationalize supply since 1991.<\/p>\n
Rubber prices, which three years ago were 215.00 sen (79.6
\nU.S. cents) a kilogram (2.2 pounds), have in the past weeks
\nrocketed to six-year highs, the benchmark RSS I grade closing
\nThursday at 322.00 sen a kilogram.<\/p>\n
The International Natural Rubber Organization (INRO) five-day
\nmoving average, derived from prices in London, New York,
\nSingapore and Kuala Lumpur, soared to 243.45 Malaysian-Singapore
\ncents a kilo Thursday from 169-170 level at the end of 1991.<\/p>\n
Depressed prices had forced some producers, particularly
\nsmallholders, to abandon tapping and shift into other employment.<\/p>\n
Producers, led by Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand,
\nestablished in 1991 a coordinating committee on production and
\nmarket strategies to chart plans to adjust production and
\nmarketing strategies and ensure better returns.<\/p>\n
\"Obviously these efforts have borne fruit in the form of the
\ncurrent upsurge,\" Lim said.<\/p>\n
In Singapore, rubber futures prices ended slightly lower in
\nvery quiet trading yesterday with interest lacking because of a
\nmarket holiday in Thailand and the pre-holiday mood in Japan,
\ndealers said.<\/p>\n
At 09:45 GMT, Basis October RSS 1 was last traded at 181.00
\nSingapore cents, RSS 3 at 137.00 U.S. cents and TSR 20 at 178.00
\nSingapore cents.<\/p>\n
\"Markets in Tokyo and Kobe virtually saw no trading as a pre-
\nholiday mood, ahead of the Golden Week, kept traders away while
\nthe closure of the Thai market for the Queen's birthday, gave
\nmore reasons for traders here to move to the sidelines,\" a dealer
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
Thai buyers, who were active earlier in the week, were absent
\nand sellers were not keen to make offers, the dealer said, adding
\n\"it was a wait-and-see mood in the market from start to end.\"<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/kl-urges-tappers-to-return-to-work-as-rubber-bounces-back-1447893297",
"image": ""
},
"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
}