Thai seeks greater U.S. rubber share

Thai seeks greater U.S. rubber share

BANGKOK (Dow Jones): Thailand's Deputy Agriculture and Cooperatives Minister Arkom Angchuan will meet with large rubber users in the U.S., seeking a larger portion of the U.S. market for Thai rubber.

Arkom said that he will promote Thai rubber to automobile manufacturers, tire makers and rubber traders, seeking to regain market share lost to Indonesia.

In the first 11 months of 1999, the U.S. was Thailand's second largest rubber importer, after Japan, with Thailand exporting 180,964 metric tons of rubber to the U.S., according to an official report from the Rubber Research Institute.

The U.S. is the world's largest natural rubber consumer.

Thailand is the world's largest natural rubber exporter, followed by Indonesia.

The U.S. has recently turned to Indonesian rubber for cheaper prices, but Arkom didn't say how much market share was lost to Indonesia.

Standard Thai rubber grade 20 was quoted at 65.50-67.50 U.S. cents a kilogram Thursday while standard Indonesian rubber grade 20 was quoted at 62.30-62.80 cents/kg.

"We have to create a relationship with the users and traders in the U.S. to convince them to buy Thai rubber," Arkom said, adding that the users can contact the government's sale agent directly for purchases.