Ko Soe Aung, a rubber dealer in Thanbyuzayat town in an interview with IMNA said: “Today’s price for RSS [Rubber Type] 3 is 675 kyat a pound. Last month it was 700 kyat a pound. Now the dealers are unsure whether to buy rubber or not.”
While the current price of Burmese RSS 3 rubber, which is used in the production of domestic-made rubber shoes, is 740 kyats per pound the price of RSS 3 from Thailand is 770-780 kyats a pound.
Koe Soe Aung said: “It is the same Type 3, but the type 3 from Thailand is around 100 kyat more than the Type 3 from Burma. That gap makes me wonder [what is happening].”
In Thanbyuzayat Town the current price for better dried rubber is 675 kyats a pound whilst rubber dried in one day is priced at 550 kyats a pound.
Nai San Aung a rubber plantation owner from Kamarwet Town said: “Only if the price of rubber is 800 kyats a pound will it be okay for the rubber plantation owners and workers. Now because the price of rubber has dropped workers only have enough money for their daily meals and as for the owners, we have to use our own money to buy fertilizers.
According to an interview with Nai Kyan Yit, the chairman of Mon State’s rubber employers group, the drop in rubber price has reduced the income of Mon State residents.
He said: “Our rubber market is dependent on the Chinese company. Only the price they set is the current price.”
According to an official report released by the government Mon State has more than 500,000 acres of rubber plantations and produced 100,202 pounds of rubber in the year 2012-13. It has a larger area of rubber plantations than any other state.
According to a report by 7 Day News Journal the price of rubber in Mon State on 22nd June 2012 was 1500 kyat for one pound of RSS 3 and 1370 kyat a pound for RSS 5.
