Cambodia is scheduled to host a summit of rubber planting associations on Feb. 21-22 in Siem Reap to address the opportunities for rubber plant investment and best practices in plantation management.
The RubberPlant Summit is expected to draw experts from the rubber producing countries of Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, Cambodia and China, according to the Cambodian General Directorate of Rubber (CRP).
The summit will focus on in-depth analysis of industry outlook as the rubber price has climbed almost to a 30-year high, said CRP General Director Ly Phalla.
The price of natural rubber material climbed to 5,000 USD per tonne on the world market on December 27, driven by tight supplies in Thailand amid growing global demand.
Natural rubber producing countries are encouraging investments and new plantations as demand continues to climb.
The event is expected to announce a masterplan on rubber plantation in Cambodia as well as new incentives on rubber growing land for foreign investors.
The Vietnam Rubber Group (VRG) is accelerating work towards its goal of planting 100,000 hectares of rubber trees in Cambodia by 2012.
Eleven VRG member companies has so far grown 27,000 ha of rubber trees in five Cambodia provinces, meeting 27 percent of the goal after four years of investment, said Leng Rithy, Chief Representative of VRG office in Cambodia.
The VRG’s Vietnam Rubber Businesses Association in Cambodia (VREF) announced an additional investment of 200 million USD in July, 2010 in order to expand the rubber-growing area in Cambodia.
Earlier, the VREF unveiled a 500 million USD rubber plant investment strategy in Cambodia for the 2009-2012./.
