Malaysia’s Plantation Industries and Commodities Minister Datuk Seri Mah Siew Keong recently announced that the government will implement more rubberised roads. He said this is one measure among a few to increase domestic rubber consumption in order to shore up flagging prices of the commodity.
Initial implemtation of rubberised roads will involve resurfacing the apron and taxiway of the Sungai Rambai Aerodrome, Melaka and the 20 km stretch of Jalan Segamat-Yong Peng in Johor.
“Although the cost of rubberised roads is quite high at the start, they are more durable than normal roads,” he said.
Mah said about 488,000 tonnes of 730,000 tonnes of rubber were being used annually for the local market.
At noon on Tuesday, the Malaysian Rubber Board\s official physical price for tyre-grade SMR20 was 5.5 sen lower at 551.5 sen a kg, while latex in bulk declined 5.5 sen to 469 sen a kg.
(RJA)
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