Thai government’s rubber purchase starts

BANGKOK, January 25 (TNA) - Thai rubber growers have started selling their products to the government under its price-supporting measure, with active sales reported in only some areas. Accompanied by his entourage, Agriculture and Cooperatives Ministry Inspector-General Suraphol Charuphong witnessed the Thai government's direct rubber purchase at the branch of the Rubber Authority of Thailand in Ban Na San District of the southern Surat Thani Province on January 25, when the official assistance for low prices-affected local rubber growers started with most growers selling latex there. The Thai government's purchase price has been set at 45 baht per kilogram for raw rubber sheets and the official financial aid offers at 1,500 baht per rai of rubber plantation, but not more than 15 rais per grower (2.5 rais = 1 acre). Weerathep Jankaew, Acting Director of the Rubber Authority of Thailand’s Trang Brach Office in the Thai South, told reporters that 23 out of 55 rubber-purchasing points started to operate in Trang on Monday, with the sales reported active at the Ban Nam Phud Rubber Cooperatives in Muang District. Apart from the 45-baht price of raw rubber sheets, the price of latex has been set at 42 baht and that of cup lumps at 41 baht per kilogram, with most growers also reportedly selling latex there. In Narathiwat Province in the Thai Far South, four purchasing points have been opened in Rueso, Rangae, Muang and Sungai Kolok Districts, but there have been no rubber growers showing up there. Nikhom na Songkhla, chief of the rubber authority’s Sungai Kolok branch, revealed that local rubber growers were undergoing their registration required before the sales. In Ranong Province, also in the Thai South, seven purchasing points have been opened in five districts but only a handful of rubber growers have turned up for the sales. Meanwhile, Kittisak Wirote, president of an association of rubber and oil palm growers in Surat Thani, sent a letter to ask the Thai government to expand its purchase and financial aid to also cover landless rubber growers. (TNA)