Bounce out of rubber exports

JAKARTA (JP): The Indonesian Rubber Producers Association (Gapkindo) is predicting minor growth in exports this year to 1.65 million tons from to 1.64 million in 1998, Antara reported.

Gapkindo chairman A.F.S. Budiman said major rubber producers of Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand had flooded the world market with their production, causing a decline in prices.

Indonesia increased its rubber exports by 15 percent last year from 1.4 million tons in 1997, largely because the falling rupiah's exchange rate made the commodity more competitive, Budiman said.

He noted that while the rupiah plunged by as much as 500 percent last year, the Malaysian and Thai currencies dropped 40 percent to 50 percent.

Rubber production increased last year because cash-pressed smallholders, who run most of the country's rubber plantations, worked double shifts to augment their income.

About 70 percent of local production is sold directly to consumers, especially the world's major tire producers, he said. (02)