Thai rubber firms need loan to stockpile<\/p>\n
Dow Jones, Singapore<\/p>\n
Thai rubber exporters and producers are willing to stockpile
\nrubber to shore up global prices but will need a soft loan of 2
\nbillion baht from the government to do so, a senior industry
\nofficial said Saturday.<\/p>\n
Choositt Ophaswongse, president of the Thai Rubber
\nAssociation, told Dow Jones Newswires that Thai rubber exporters
\nagree with the government's plan to reduce exports to boost
\nprices.<\/p>\n
He added that to stockpile 100,000 tons of rubber, the Thai
\ngovernment needs to extend a 2 billion bath soft loan to private
\nexporters and producers.<\/p>\n
He said he has already made a proposal to the Thai agriculture
\nministry and that this will be discussed in Tuesday's cabinet
\nmeeting.<\/p>\n
Choositt, who was in Singapore over the weekend, to attend an
\nAsian rubber industry meeting, said exporters don't have the
\nfinancial means to stockpile rubber and thus need government
\nfunding.<\/p>\n
He was reacting to a statement by the Indonesian Trade
\nMinister Rini Soewandi, who said the Thai government hasn't
\nreceived much cooperation from commercial producers who object to
\nthe international tripartite rubber agreement.<\/p>\n
\"Some in the private sector aren't cooperating so the Thai
\nauthorities have to solve this problem,\" Rini told reporters in a
\npress briefing held in Jakarta last week.<\/p>\n
But Choositt said this statement is \"not true.\"<\/p>\n
\"We want to cooperate, but we can't do it by ourselves because
\nof financial restrictions...so we urge the government to help us
\nin providing soft loans to us,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Ministers from the world's top rubber producers - Malaysia,
\nThailand and Indonesia - signed in December a joint ministerial
\ndeclaration to cut combined rubber output by 4 percent, and
\nexports by 10 percent in 2002.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/thai-rubber-firms-need-loan-to-stockpile-1447893297",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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