Consortium to buy rubber

Consortium to buy rubber

KUALA LUMPUR (AFP): The world's three key natural rubber
producers will set up a consortium to buy about 140,000 metric
tons of the commodity on the international market, reports said
Saturday.

Lim Keng Yaik, Malaysia's primary industries minister said the
move by Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia, who account for about
80 percent of global output, was aimed to stabilize rubber
prices.

"If possible, we will provide a soft loan to the consortium to
purchase rubber in order to stabilize the price in the
international market," he was quoted as saying by the New Straits
Times newspaper.

In October, Thailand and Malaysia decided to withdraw from the
International Natural Rubber Organization (INRO), a 19-year-old
organization linking producers and consumers.

Thailand and Malaysia say INRO had failed to raise prices,
which are currently at 30-year lows.

But Indonesian officials had expressed fears that without an
organization such as INRO to support prices, there would be a
further fluctuation of rubber prices.