Thailand will spend 5.4 billion baht to buy 100,000 tonnes of its local rubber to support 850,000 rubber farmers.
The Thai government will buy raw rubber sheets from the local farmers at 45 baht per kg, below the 60 baht per kg demand of rubber associations. Around 4.5 billion baht will be used to buy rubber while the remaining amount will be used to manage the rubber buying programme
“The allocation for the programme will be drawn from the budget of several ministries, Bank of Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperative as well as cess from rubber exports,” said Government’s spokesman, Col Sansern Kaewkamnerd to Bernama.
Thailand, one of the largest rubber-producing countries in the world, is badly affected by the present low prices of the commodity due to slower demand from China. The country is expected to produce four million tonnes of rubber this year.