The president of the Para Rubber Growers Co-operative Federation of Thailand on Sunday announced he will mobilise growers nationwide for a mass rally in Bangkok this month to bring the government’s attention to the plummeting price of rubber.
Perk Lertwangpong said growers had given the authorities several months to solve the problem of falling rubber prices but they had “completely failed”.
Rubber prices reached the lowest point in almost two years, with 68.70 baht per kilogramme quoted for third-class raw rubber sheets as of Sunday, while commodity prices continue to rise. Mr Perk said he believed the prices will plummet to 40 baht per kilogramme soon.
In the lead up to the rally, rubber farmers will first dump 60,000 tonnes of remaining fertiliser distributed to them this year by the Office of the Rubber Replanting Aid Fund (ORRAF) on the road. He said the fertiliser was of low quality and could almost be considered a fake product. Farmers would explain to the public about the fake product, he said.
Mr Perk did not say exactly where the rally would be held in Bangkok.