Malaysia’s rubber industry, by leveraging on science and technology innovations, still shows the potential to move forward, according to the country’s Plantation Industries and Commodities Minister Mah Siew Keong. This potential helps the rubber industry continue to be an important sector in the country.
The industry provides an income source for some 440,000 rubber smallholders in the country and as such, the government will ensure that the price of the commodity will continue to be high by creating more value added products to boost the demand for and usage of rubber, he said, speaking at the launch of the Green Rubber Sound Insulator in Subang Jaya.
The Malaysian Rubber Board (MRB) will continue to explore new technologies to ensure continued demand for rubber and capitalise on green inventions as a potential export generator to lift the Malaysian economy, he said.
On next year’s outlook, Mah said rubber exports will continue to be strong especially for rubber products, adding with the new rubber technologies, the outlook for the industry would be positive.
Malaysia exported about RM18 billion worth of rubber products last year, according to Mah. The country exported about RM15.61 billion worth of rubber products during the period of January to October 2016, he added.
“Our export industry will continue to be strong especially in rubber products. I expect the rubber industry outlook to be very positive on the back of new rubber-based inventions such as rubberised roads, which we are currently researching on,” he said.
Mah said the International Tripartite Rubber Council (ITRC), which comprises Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia, would also be discussing ways to stabilise rubber prices as well as potential research and development (R&D) inroads in the sector.
In line with the Economic Transformation Programme, under which rubber is identified as a national key economic area, MRB has collaborated with MYKPK Integrated Rubber SdnBhd to manufacture and commercialise the Green Rubber Sound Insulator.
“We are targeting RM200 million worth of product sales in 2017. The product is mainly suitable for the automotive and building construction sectors,” MYKPK executive chairman Datuk Mohamad Kamel Md Yusoff said.
The insulator is produced using green technology, with epoxidised natural rubber as its basic material.
“We are looking at exporting the product to China and Indonesia, although our focus will be on Malaysia first,” Mohamad Kamel added.
The company is aiming for initial annual potential sales of insulators for applications involving 60,000 cars and 3,500 houses.