The cabinet on Tuesday discussed immediate measures to increase the price of rubber to help struggling planters, including multi-billion-baht plans by eight ministries to use local rubber.
Eight ministers were to propose ideas to boost demand during the cabinet meeting --- the ministries of agriculture, commerce, defence, education, industry, interior, public health, and transport.
The Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives has plans to spend 9.8 billion baht buying 25,580 tonnes of dried rubber this year.
The Transport Ministry through its departments of highways and rural roads proposes using 20,000 tonnes of rubber in the asphalt mix for road construction and maintenance. The Industry Ministry and the Tourism and Sports Ministry plan to use rubber to build sports fields and playgrounds.
Agriculture and Cooperatives Minister Chatchai Sarikulya was also to propose a list of nominees to the board of the Rubber Authority of Thailand.
The price of latex dropped from 60 baht per kilogramme in January 2014 to 45.50 baht in January 2015 and is now around 32 baht.
