Financial aid and loans are required to build 28 factories to produce “high-quality” rubber, according to the secretary of Myanmar Rubber Planters and Producers’ Association.
Khaing Myint said that rubber farms, especially smaller ones, lacked modern machinery and did not make much profit from selling just rubber sheets.
“Only if Myanmar could produce international-quality rubber, we have the market for its produce,” said the secretary.
The country produces around 200,000 tonnes of rubber annually. The rubber is mainly exported to China and also to Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Korea, Japan, Taiwan and India.
Rubber plantations can be found in Mon and Kayin states and Yangon, Bago and Taninthayi regions.
The country hosts nearly 1.6 million acres of rubber farms and 500,000 of them are in Mon and 270,000 in Kayin.
The domestic rubber prices are apparently falling along with the global prices. One pound (0.45 kilograms) of rubber is Ks760 (US$0.6).
