Bangkok (VNA) – The Thai government plans toissue bonds to raise 30 billion THB (961.8 million USD) for a project aimed atcutting the country’s rubber oversupply, according to a Thai agriculturalofficial.
The Ministry of Agriculture is in discussion with thefinance ministry over the process of bond issuance and the two are expected toreach a conclusion soon, said Minister of Agriculture Grisada Boonrach.
The ministry will use the fund raised from bond issuanceto compensate farmers to encourage them to reduce supply. It will also be usedto fund the Rubber Authority of Thailand (RAT)’s operation, the minister added.The RAT is responsible for overseeing the industry through regulatingplantations, teaching farmers techniques to increase yield and intervention inthe market if necessary.
This will boost the ability of government institutions tolend farmers, he noted.
The ministry looks to cut annual supply by as much as 1 –3.3 million tonnes of rubber before year-end. The government previouslycompensated farmers for cutting down rubber trees in an area of around 64,000hectares in an effort to cut oversupply and support rubber prices. But itfailed to prop up prices.
The ministry believes that more comprehensive measureswill be required to make rubber plantation more sustainable.
Thailand is the world's biggest rubber producer. In 2011,the price of unsmoked rubber sheets, which farmers sell to rubber factories,had fallen to 48 THB per kilogram, from a record high of 180 THB per kilogram.The target now is to push prices up to 80 THB.-VNA