RI unfazed by U.S. rubber stock release

RI unfazed by U.S. rubber stock release

JAKARTA (JP): The Indonesian Rubber Producers Association is
not worried about the United States' plan to release up to 125
tons of its rubber stocks every year.

The association's executive director A.F.S. Budiman said
yesterday the yearly release of 125 tons of rubber on the U.S.
market would not affect Indonesia's exports to the U.S..

"That country has notified us that it will only release 250
tons of its rubber stocks until the year 1998," Budiman was
quoted by Antara as saying.

He said the U.S. market was important because it received more
than 60 percent of Indonesia's total rubber exports.

Indonesia, the world's second largest rubber producing country
after Thailand, exported 1.32 million tons of rubber last year,
up from 1.24 million tons in 1994.

Thailand supplies 31 percent of the world's rubber market,
followed by Indonesia with a 21 percent market share and Malaysia
with 9 percent.

Budiman said world rubber prices were now stable at around 55
U.S. cents a pound. Domestically, rubber prices range from Rp
2,600 (US$1.1) to Rp 2,700 a kilogram.

"Such price stability is expected to encourage Indonesia's
rubber producers to push up their production and exports,"
Budiman said.

During the rainy season, rubber output declines because rubber
farmers do not tap their trees, he said.

Indonesia produces about 1.5 million tons of rubber a year,
mainly in the provinces of North Sumatra, South Sumatra, Jambi
and West Kalimantan.

Smallholders produce 75 percent of Indonesia's rubber. Their
plantations make up 83 percent of Indonesia's rubber plantation
areas.

Indonesia's total rubber output usually comprises 90 percent
technically specified rubber, 6 percent ribbed smoked sheet, 3
percent latex concentrate and 1 percent other rubber grades.
(rid)