Master plan needed to strengthen rubber industry — Uggah
KUCHING: Sarawak desperately needs a Rubber Industry Master Plan to meet the demand for economics of scale and requirements of the modern rubber industry.
Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas, in a press statement, said tyre manufacturing companies are interested to invest in Sarawak, if the state has sufficient rubber plantation capacity to support the industry.
Uggah, who is also Minister for Modernisation of Agriculture and Rural Economy ( MoARE), said he was informed of this by the Malaysia Rubber Board ( LGM) director general Datuk Dr Mohd Akbar Md Said during a meeting yesterday.
He said Sarawak needs to increase its rubber acreage to meet industry requirements, as at the moment, the state only has about 160,000 hectares spread all over the state.
“A small industry (initiative) needs a cluster of at least 3,000 hectares while a small glove industry requires a minimum of 1,000 tonnes of latex per month,” he said.
“I have instructed LGM and my staff to work closely together to do a Master Plan for Rubber Industry for Sarawak,” he said.
He said efforts must be made to develop downstream activities in the rubber industry because at the moment, Sarawak is only producing Standard Malaysia Rubber ( SMR) products.
“We don’t have any industry like glove, rubber tube, etc… The time has come for us to look in that direction,” he emphasised.
Uggah said MoARE is holding discussions with LGM on how to increase the acreage of rubber in Sarawak to meet industry demand, especially to support latex concentrate production centres.
“Once there is assurance of supply of rubber, they hinted that there are some groups interested to come to Sarawak, including possibilities of setting up a tyre industry.”
A small industry (initiative) needs a cluster of at least 3,000 hectares while a small glove industry requires a minimum of 1,000 tonnes of latex per month. Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas, Deputy Chief Minister