Rubber producers call for one export gateway

JAKARTA (JP): The Indonesian Association of Rubber Producers (Gapkindo) called yesterday for only "one gateway" to be used to market rubber overseas.

Gapkindo's chairman for Jakarta and other Java areas, Nur Nungkat, said having only one way of channeling rubber to the market would strengthen bargaining power.

"Right now Indonesian producers are competing against each other. Buyers benefit from this because they have more options," Nur said after the opening of the first state-owned plantation firms' rubber auction.

Currently the country's rubber is marketed in Hamburg, New York and Jakarta. Prices are different at each market.

Nur said Indonesian producers should not only coordinate delivery and sales but also stock management.

This would maximize Indonesia's bargaining power and enable the country to control the market price, he said.

He said the United States was an example of a highly coordinated market.

"The United States can affect the market price if it sells its two year supply of 250,000 tons. This is made possible by its ability to control its commodity supply," he said.

He said the state-owned plantation firms (PTPN), now have a representative in New York. PTPN produce 420,000 tons a year but still cannot control the market.

Indonesia's rubber production is now 1.53 million tons a year. The world's supply is 5.63 million tons a year.

Indonesia is the world's second largest rubber producer. It exports 1.32 million tons a year. Thailand is the second biggest producer, it exports 1.6 million tons a year.

PTPN produce 25 percent of the country's rubber.

Saibun Harahap, chairman of PTPN's directors board, said state-owned plantations produced better quality rubber than private plantations.

PTPN's Joint Marketing Office will auction rubber produced by its units every Tuesday.

Harahap said the auction would be used as an indicator to set the price of rubber from PTPN units, each of which now sells its rubber at different prices.

The Joint Marketing Office offered 1,600 tons of rubber to buyers at the auction yesterday. (das)