Thailand, RI and Malaysia mull rubber export quota<\/p>\n
KUALA LUMPUR (AFP): The world's top three rubber producers --
\nThailand, Indonesia and Malaysia -- may adopt a joint export
\nquota to control supply to boost sagging prices, a report said
\nWednesday.<\/p>\n
A Malaysian official said apart from export quotas, a supply
\nrationalization and stockpile scheme was also being considered.<\/p>\n
Senior officials of the three Southeast Asian countries are
\nmeeting in Kuala Lumpur under the Tripartite Rubber Cooperation
\n(TRC) for the third time. It held its first meeting in 2000 in
\nIndonesia.<\/p>\n
\"We are leaving no stone unturned in devising an effective
\nmechanism to boost rubber prices,\" the official was quoted as
\nsaying by Business Times newspaper.<\/p>\n
Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia together produce 79 percent
\nof the world's natural rubber.<\/p>\n
The newspaper said all proposals and recommendations emerging
\nfrom the discussions would be forwarded to the ministers for
\nadoption Friday.<\/p>\n
At a meeting last July in Bangkok, Malaysian Primary
\nIndustries Minister Lim Keng Yaik along with his two counterparts
\nagreed to cut rubber output by four percent a year from 2001.<\/p>\n
\"With strong cooperation from all three producers, the TRC can
\nbe expected to boost prices substantially,\" the official said.<\/p>\n
\"TRC will come up with an equitable reference price for member
\ncountries to sell rubber on the open market.\"<\/p>\n
The goal is to safeguard the long-term welfare of smallholders
\nwho depend on rubber as their main source of income, he added.<\/p>\n
Lim along with Thailand's deputy minister of agriculture and
\ncooperative Natee Khlibthong and M.S. Soewandi, Indonesia's
\nminister of industry and trade would meet Friday.<\/p>\n
A communique is expected to be issued after the meeting, an
\nindustry source familiar with the discussions told AFP Wednesday.<\/p>\n
He said Malaysia would like to see the SMR rubber price move
\nup to 3.00 ringgit (79 US cents) per kilogram. The price now is
\n53 cents.<\/p>\n
Thailand produces about 2.3 million tons of rubber a year,
\nIndonesia 1.4 million tons and Malaysia 650,000 tons.<\/p>\n
The source said the ailing rubber prices were due to over
\nproduction, high stock and poor demand and competition from
\nsynthetic rubber.<\/p>\n
\"Although the three countries produce 79 percent of total
\nnatural rubber output, we still are unable to control the
\nprices,\" he lamented.<\/p>",
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