KUALA LUMPUR: Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia have pledged to immediately withhold exports of 350,000 tonnes of natural rubber (NR) until March 2018 under the framework of the International Tripartite Rubber Council’s (ITRC) Agreed Export Tonnage Scheme (AETS).
The International Rubber Consortium Ltd (IRCo) said the pledge was made during the ITRC Senior Officials Meeting on Dec 22, 2018 in Bangkok, Thailand, and would be closely monitored by the ITRC Monitoring and Surveillance Committee.
“The AETS will be implemented through the respective domestic regulators including addressing business commitments under existing forward contracts.
“Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia will also cooperate to increase NR consumption domestically.
“This include the use of NR in various sectors such as transportation, infrastructure, sports, defence, health and consumer goods, rubberised road construction, rail pads for railway construction, dock fenders and sea tolls, and other suitable areas,” it added.
IRCo also said Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia were confident that with the joint implementation of these measures, NR prices would recover and continue to be fair and remunerative to all rubber smallholders and other stakeholders in the industry. – BERNAMA