REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- Indonesia seeks to boost rubber price during the meeting with Malaysia and Thailand, the world biggest rubber producers, in International Tripartite Rubber Council (ITRC) in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Rubber price has been declining and giving negative impact to Indonesia and the two countries, which contributing to 79 percent of rubber export to the world.

"We can boost rubber price by managing the supply," Indonesia's Minister of Trade Rachmat Gobel said on Thursday, November 20. Indonesia is second largest rubber exporter. The country has 2.4 million rubber farmers. "We have to get an appropriate price," he said.

For the last three years, natural rubber prices have reached their lowest levels. The price touched 1.6 USD per kilogram due to flooding stocks, reaching more than 2.4 million tonnes of rubber. Gobel said the price was lower than production cost.

The meeting, attended by Thai Minister of Agriculture and Cooperatives, Malaysia's Minister of Plantation Industries and Commodities and Minister of Trade from Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, and Vietnam (CLMV), discusses on efforts to control the supply of rubber. "Every producer and business must unite to boost rubber price to a profitable level," he said. 

Indonesia exported 7.3 billion USD natural rubber in 2010. The number increased to 11.7 billion USD in 2011 due to high demand. However, the demand declined in 2013, making the export decreased to 6.9 billion USD.