Indonesia could be top rubber producer after 2000
Indonesia could be top rubber producer after 2000
KUALA LUMPUR (Reuter): Indonesia is expected to overtake
Thailand as the world's number one rubber producer after the year
2000 while Malaysia is likely to keep its third position, a
senior INRO official said yesterday.
"Thailand is likely to retain its number one position for the
next few years but its rubber production is already reaching a
plateau," said Christopher Goldthorpe of the Kuala Lumpur-based
International Natural Rubber Organization.
Goldthorpe, who is INRO's senior rubber industry development
officer, said Indonesia, with ample land and labor, is embarking
on various rubber development programs which could greatly boost
rubber production in the next century.
"Thailand has planted up most of its rubber growing areas
while Indonesia still has vast tracts of suitable land in
Kalimantan and Sumatra," Goldthorpe told Reuters at a Kuala
Lumpur seminar on the future of the global rubber industry.
"But there's still much catching up for Indonesia to do in
terms of numbers," he added.
Thailand produced 1.72 million tons of rubber in 1994 against
Indonesia's 1.36 million tons -- a margin described by Goldthorpe
as still wide.
He said Malaysia's output of 1.1 million tons last year was
expected to consolidate marginally to around one million tons
over the next five years.
The three southeast Asian countries currently account for over
70 percent of global output.
Goldthorpe said an increase in production is expected in the
near-term in India -- which has become self-sufficient with its
rubber demand -- and the Philippines and Vietnam -- which have
grown rapidly in recent years as producers.
Falls in production are expected in Liberia and Nigeria, two
of Africa's main rubber growers, due to civil unrest.
Goldthorpe said about 5.72 million tons of rubber was produced
for the whole of last year, fetching around $6.3 billion based on
the INRO's average daily market indicator price of $1,103 per
ton.
He said about 70 percent of the rubber was consumed by the
tire manufacturing sector and around 10 to 12 percent was used to
make gloves, condoms, medical catheters, elastic thread and latex
foam.