INRO members meet in India to discuss rubber stocks

INRO members meet in India to discuss rubber stocks

COONOOR, India (Dow Jones): Delegates to the Association of
Natural Rubber Producing Countries meeting in Cochin in south
India this week will discuss the future of the rubber industry,
an official from Rubber Board of India said Monday.

The future of rubber now that International Natural Rubber
Organization is set to dispose off all its stocks by June 2001 is
one of the topics at the meeting, the official said.

INRO, a rubber producers' body that disbanded in October 1999,
has to liquidate all its rubber stocks by June 30 this year.

INRO used to support the rubber market with its market
intervention.

The market situation, the World Trade Organization and free
trade in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in the
context of rubber will be some other topics, the official said.

Gnoh Chong Hock, secretary-general of ANRPC, wouldn't comment
on the meeting's agenda, saying only: "This is a closed-door
meeting; it is confidential."

Around 30 officials from member countries Indonesia, Malaysia,
Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam and India will hold a
closed-door meeting Tuesday to Thursday, the Rubber Board
official said.

Officials from Papua New Guinea, another member of the ANRPC,
may not attend.

Nonmembers at the meeting will include two representatives
from China and an observer from the International Rubber Study
Group based in London.

ANRPC, an intergovernmental producers' body, is based in Kuala
Lumpur.