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RUBBER
PHUSADEE ARUNMAS
Thailand has teamed up with Vietnam to explore ways to expand trade and develop the rubber industry.
The two nations have agreed to exchange information and form joint ventures in research and development to increase rubber productivity and develop labour skills, according to Theerachai Saenkaew, deputy minister of the Agriculture Ministry.
Mr Theerachai, who led led a trade mission to Ho Chi Minh City from July 16-18, said the partnership would also include joint efforts in transporting rubber products in the Northeast of Thailand where rubber output increases every year.
The latest survey by the Agriculture Ministry shows that rubber trees are now grown on 2.2 million rai in the Northeast, with 630,000 rai ripe for tapping, producing about 150,000 tonnes a year.
By 2011, the acreage of rubber trees ready for tapping is expected to cover 1.5 million rai, producing about 375,000 tonnes. By then, the average production will not be much different from that in the South, at 200-250 kilogramme per rai.
Plantation areas in the Northeast are expected to increase to three million rai over five years, with production topping 400,000 to 500,000 tonnes.
According to Mr Theerachai, the transportation costs of Thai operators would be substantially reduced and delivery eased if Thailand could transport the output from the Northeastern region through the port in Danang in Vietnam to China, Japan and South Korea.
Mr Theerachai said the partnership with Vietnam would also help facilitate the plan to turn the Northeast of Thailand into the future rubber trading hub for Indochina.
To achieve this, the Agriculture Ministry through the Agriculture Department would hold a joint meeting once a year with the Vietnam Rubber Group to extend the partnership between the two countries.
Currently, Thailand and Vietnam has multilateral partnerships through the Association of Natural Rubber Producing Countries and the International Rubber Research & Development Board.
Thailand is the world's largest rubber producer and exporter while Vietnam is the fifth-largest producer and the fourth-largest exporter.
Thailand's rubber plantation areas cover 15.35 million rai, 11 million of which are in the South, the traditional rubber-production base.
Total output is estimated at 3.2 million tonnes. Local consumption takes up 370,000 tonnes and the rest is for export.
Vietnam is expected to increase its rubber production to 1.2 million tonnes over the next 10 years from currently 500,000 tonnes.
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