Bangkok – Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand and Indonesia are to jointly withdraw 615,000 tonnes of natural rubber (NR) from the market for six months, the International Tripartite Rubber Council (ITRC) announced on 4 Feb.
The three countries announced the ‘agreed export tonnage scheme’ (AETS), to run from 1 March to 31 Aug, at a ministerial meeting of members of the ITRC.
At the meeting, the officials expressed their concern over the continuing slump in NR prices and its impact on the income of smallholders in their countries.
In a bid to improve NR prices, the countries also pledged to increase domestic consumption under initiatives such as the use of NR for road construction, rail pads for railway construction and other high-volume applications.
The ITRC said it was “optimistic” that the new measures could help rubber prices to recover.
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