Cabinet approves 100,000-tonne rubber purchase
The cabinet has approved the purchase by eight ministries of 100,000 tonnes of rubber directly from growers at an above-market price, and appointed eight new people to the 15-member Rubber Board.
Announcing the decision, Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha did not reveal the buying price but said it would be higher than the current 35 baht a kilogramme for latex.
He said Thailand had 4.7 million tones of rubber while local demand was 1.4 million tonnes, so the country needed to increase usage by 30-50%
But Gen Prayut added he could not meet the farmers' demand that rubber make up more than 5% of raw materials inroad construction, because it would be a waste of budget funds.
The Public Warehouse Organisation will also buy rubber from farmers and sell it to processing factories, which will in turn sell finished products to the government.