The Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation will not set an official minimum price for rubber despite Myanmar’s rubber being the cheapest in the region, a minister said.
Deputy Minister U Ohn Than said that there is no reason for the ministry to set the lowest price as the country is implementing an open market system.
He said the rubber sector needs to produce higher quality raw rubber and collaborate with the regional rubber plantation associations to get good prices in the market.
Recently, rubber prices in both local and international market have been in decline. Myanmar rubber gets about $1,500 per tonne while Thai rubber fetches $2,000.
In Myanmar, rubber is mainly planted in Chin state and Magway region. Total plantation acreage increased by 1.5 million acres in the last financial year, producing 177,125 tonnes of raw rubber, according to Myanmar Rubber Planters and Producers Association data.
“Rubber price is declining in the international market. China is our main market and as China has stored a lot of rubber we are feeling the impact,” U Khine Myint, secretary of Myanmar Rubber Planters and Producers Association, said.
“Our association is currently promoting the National Export Strategy and educating the rubber planters in order to produce higher quality output and have better prices,” he added.
