THAILAND: Thailand eyes USD 10 billion in investments for Rubber City

Thailand aims to attract USD 10 billion (USD 1=RM 4.29) in investments to its "Rubber City" located at the Southern Region Industrial Estate in Songkhla's Hatyai district, said Thai Ambassador to Malaysia, Damrong Kraikuan.

He said the Rubber City, which focuses mainly on the midstream and downstream industry, is intended to be an integrated centre of production for rubber processing, such as tyres, rubber gloves and compound rubber.

The newly established production site is located some 16 kilometers from the Hatyai International Airport, 45 km from Songkhla's deep sea port and about 80 km from the Malaysian border. In the initial phase, the total area set aside for the Rubber City will cover some 125 hectares, Damrong told a media briefing in Kuala Lumpur on 24 Jan 2016.

"Our focus now is to value add to the raw products we produce," he said, adding, Thailand has an annual output of 4.1 million tons of natural rubber and only 1.4 million tons is used domestically. Thailand is the world's biggest rubber exporter followed by Indonesia and Malaysia. The natural rubber price in Thailand has dropped from a record high of 120 baht a kilogramme in 2011 to 37 baht now. He said the new initiative would help increase domestic consumption of rubber amid slow demand from major economies, while at the same time, help increase rubber prices. Damrong said investors would be allowed among others to own land in the industrial estate, bring in foreign expertise and exempted from corporate income tax on dividends for up to eight years.

Source: “Bernama” (National News Agency of Malaysia), Kuala Lumpur; 24 Jan 2016
(Syed Rashid Ali, Karachi, Pakistan)