Body plans to stretch rubber plants

The state Rubber Estate Organisation plans to set up three rubber processing plants in the Northeast at a cost of almost 500 million baht.

REO director Chuchart Tan-angsankul said the organisation had received funding from the Agriculture Ministry to set up the processing plants in Si Sa Ket, Nakhon Phanom and Udon Thani.

The building of each plant on 50 rai would cost 150 million baht, Mr Chuchart said.

Construction is expected to be completed before the end of the year.

The three plants could process up to 60,000 tonnes of rubber between them a year.

In the future, as well as serving rubber plantations in the Northeast, they might be able to process rubber from the North and neighbouring countries such as Cambodia and Laos, he said.

Rubber trees which can resist dry weather were introduced to the Northeast. They grow faster and can be tapped for latex sooner than the rubber plants in the South, although they do have a shorter life cycle.

Rubber from the Northeast is presently sold cheaply to processing factories in the South. It is mostly produced in the form of cup lump rubber, Mr Chuchart said.

Cup lump rubber is used to produce rubber block which is used in heavy industries.

(bangkokpost.com)