””””JAKARTA, Aug. 8 (Xinhuanet) -- The world's three largest rubber producers --
Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand -- signed Thursday an agreement on the
establishment of the International Tripartite Rubber Company on the resort
island of Bali, Indonesia.
””””The agreement was signed by Indonesian Minister of Industry andTrade Rini
Soewandi, Malaysian Minister of Industry Lim Kem Yaik and Thai Minister of
Agriculture and Cooperative Shuncheep Hansabad at Tampak Siring palace, the
Antara News Agency reported.
””””The date of the signing coincided with the 35th anniversary of the
10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), which the three
countries belonged to.
””””Present at the ceremony were Indonesian President Megawati Soekarnoputri,
Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Muhammad and ThaiPrime Minister Thaksin
Shinawatra.
””””According to Minister Rini Soewandi, the main objective of the consortium
is to help lift international rubber price by restricting supplies during the
downtrend of demand and pushing sales during the bullish trend.
””””"The cooperation is aimed at raising price to enable rubber growers to
enjoy reasonable price from the exporters," she asserted.
””””Rini added that over the past few months the price of raw rubber has
dropped to only 45 US cents per kilogram, hurting most rubber growers. But she
underlined that the consortium will not seek a sharp increase on rubber price
because it will disturb global demands.
””””The agreement stated price target at 6,000 rupiah (around 67 cents) per
kilogram for Indonesian farmers and at 30 bath for Thaiproducers.
””””On Thursday morning, it was reported that the price among international
traders increased to 81 cents per kilogram from 78 cents three days ago.
””””The Indonesian Rubber Companies Association (Gapkindo) applauded the
agreement and hoped the tripartite consortium will give a positive impact on
global market.
””””"All of foreign rubber traders have been waiting the result of this
agreement", Gapkindo Chairman Asril Sutan Amir said, adding that the idea on
tripartite consortium had come from Thai Premier Thaksin. Enditem
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