The government said yesterday it is a difficult task to shore up rubber prices to 80 baht per kilogramme as its hands are tied by market mechanisms.
On Tuesday, rubber growers threatened to launch a massive protest if the government failed to significantly increase rubber prices from the current price of less than 40 baht per kg to 80 baht per kg within a month.
But the pressure has received little response from the government which says it is not in a position to help.
"We would like to give it [80 baht per kg] to the farmers, but the market makes that impossible," Deputy Agriculture and Cooperatives Minister Amnuay Patise said yesterday after chairing a meeting with farmers' representatives a day earlier.
Mr Amnuay echoed Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha's expectation that the government can only go as far as 60 baht per kg when demand for rubber, which is partly dictated by oil prices, is taken into consideration.
Decreasing oil prices are slowing the effect of the state's attempts to increase rubber prices by boosting demand. New purchases including those from the rubber price stability facility fund have been made, but rubber prices only "climb up slowly", Mr Amnuay said.
Buyers on the world market shift to buy synthetic rubber, which is made of oil, when the price of oil decreases. This is much cheaper than authentic rubber. Synthetic rubber is also known to be an almost perfect substitute for the natural material because of their similar qualities.
So if the government ignores this fact by carrying out measures to increase rubber prices, it will force even more buyers towards synthetic rubber, Mr Amnuay said.
The government is aware of rubber farmers' troubles and their plan for a mass gathering if their price request is not satisfied, but Mr Amnuay did not believe the situation would descend into a severe conflict following the talks on Tuesday.
The alliance for the revival of rubber farmers told him it will not stage a demonstration, but farmers will organise "some movement" by gathering to hand in a petition to the government, he said.
As for farmers who are currently gathering in some areas, they will carry on their activity because they have a right to voice their worries, but that will not escalate to blocking roads, said Thotsaphon Kwanrot, chairman of the network of rubber and palm oil farmers in 16 southern provinces.
"We still want the country to move forward," he said, apparently referring to the military-backed government's attempts to avoid sparking conflicts en route to national reform.