BANGKOK, Sept 9 – Thailand will double rubber consumption to one million tonnes in the next two years to help solve the problem of oversupply, according to Industry Minister Prasert Boonchaisuk.
He said Thailand’s 30 leading tyre manufacturers will be invited to meet tomorrow for a discussion while talks will also be held with manufacturers of rubber products such as rubber gloves, rubber medical equipment and condoms to find ways to use more local rubber.
The total production capacity of local rubber-related products is 710,000 tonnes per year but the real consumption is 500,000 tonnes per year.
In increasing consumption to one million tonnes, the private sector must be encouraged and investment promotion privileges must be granted to them, he said.
Mr Prasert said a rubber industrial estate in the southern province of Songkhla, constructed by Michelin Thailand, would be completed next year. It will consume 25,000 tonnes of rubber per year to produce tyres.
Several other rubber industrial projects, scheduled for completion in the next few years, will use more than 70,000 tonnes of rubber while the first and second phases of the eco-car project will increase the use of rubber from 10,000 tonnes a year to 25,000 tonnes a year, said the industry minister.
