Gapkindo says ITRCo still lacks detail

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The new rubber consortium set up by the world's three largest rubber producing countries - Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia - to help shore up sagging prices of the commodity and to improve the standard of living of rubber farmers is still in an embryonic phase, according to senior officials at the Rubber Association of Indonesia (Gapkindo).

Executive director of Gapkindo Suharto Honggokusumo said that a clear-cut guideline in running the International Tripartite Rubber Company (ITRCo) had yet to be agreed upon by the three countries.

"So far, there is no guideline yet. They just signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on the rubber cooperation at the Bali meeting last week," Suharto told The Jakarta Post.

He urged the government of the three countries to convene again to discuss details of the plan including the targeted rubber price, the funds needed to buy excess supply of the commodity on the market, and to appoint people to run the consortium.

Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia jointly control around 62 percent of the world's natural rubber production.

Minister of Trade and Industry Rini Soewandi signed an MoU on the establishment of ITRCo together with her counterparts: Malaysia's Basic Industry Minister Liem Kem Yaik and Thailand's Minister of Agriculture and Cooperatives Shucheep Hansabad.

Meanwhile, Rudi Supriono, division head of commodities at the Ministry of Trade and Industry, said that the establishment of ITRCo was part of the forming of the International Tripartite Rubber Organization (ITRO) last year.

He said that officials from the three countries were expected to meet again in the near future to discuss the technical issues in running the ITRCo.

Under the ITRCo mechanism, the above three ministers agreed to raise an initial capital outlay of $1 million.