Cambodia to host RubberPlant Summit
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./.