Gapkindo says ITRCo still lacks detail

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.