The Meeting of the Ministerial Committee of the International Tripartite Rubber Council (ITRC) held on Tuesday 19 January 2010 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia was attended by:

i.               H.E. Mr. Supachai Phosu, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Cooperatives of the Kingdom of Thailand;

ii.              H.E. Dr. Bayu Krisnamurthi, Vice Minister of Agriculture of the Republic of Indonesia; and

iii.            H.E.Tan Sri Bernard Giluk Dompok, Minister of Plantation Industries and Commodities of Malaysia

2.            The Ministers reviewed the impact of measures undertaken by the ITRC in mitigating the volatile fluctuations of rubber prices due to global recession caused by the collapse of Wall Street in September 2008. The global economic crisis and recession depressed natural rubber prices, and ITRC Daily Composite Price (DCP) tumbled by 66.15% from US$3.26 per kg on 2 July 2008 to a low of US$1.10 per kg on 11 December 2008 within a period of six months.

3.            The Ministers were pleased with the positive impact of the two measures undertaken by the three countries, i.e. the Supply Management Scheme (SMS) and Agreed Export Tonnage Scheme (AETS). These two measures had contributed to the improvement of the natural rubber prices. The DCP recovered and improved from US$1.36 per kg on 30 December 2008 to US$2.87 per kg on 30 December 2009. This was an impressive 111% improvement during the one year period. The rubber price is now hovering above US$3.00 per kg. The Ministers also recorded their appreciation to the private sector in supporting the ITRC initiatives, especially during the 1^st half of 2009 when they refrained from offering natural rubber for export below US$1.35 per kg.

4.            The Ministers emphasized on the need to continuously monitor the world demand-supply situation for natural rubber and undertake appropriate measures to counter negative price trend which would adversely affect the income of over 3 million rubber smallholder households in the three ITRC countries. The Ministers also deliberated on the importance of devising a special funding scheme to support AETS and Strategic Market Operation (SMO). ITRC is tasked to fine tune the funding mechanism in accordance with the respective domestic financial procedures and policy.

5.            The Ministers also agreed to invite Vietnam to join ITRC and International Rubber Consortium Limited (IRCo). Vietnam being the fifth largest producer of natural rubber in the world would strengthen the cooperation among major natural rubber producers by increasing its production and exports share from 70% to 76% and 84% to 93% respectively.

6.            The Ministers are confident that through these proactive measures, the producers of natural rubber will continue to reap remunerative returns for their efforts while consumers will be able to enjoy sustainable supply of rubber at fair and stable price.

19 January 2010

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia