MALAYSIA: Risda to step up marketing of latex, scrap rubber

The Rubber Industries Smallholders Development Authority (Risda) is stepping up marketing of latex and scrap rubber.

Its chairman Datuk Zahidi Zainul Abidin said the move was being taken to create more demand for the two products so that they could fetch better prices as generally these two types of rubber products did not command high prices as compared to rubber sheets which are more popular particularly with trye makers. "Our smallholders also prefer to market latex and scrap rubber," he told reporters after attending a Risda function in Kampung Saradan Tenghilan, in Tuaran. Zahidi added that Risda would also be working with the Malaysian Rubber Board on the matter.

Meanwhile, Zahidi said Risda would also be coming up with a mechanism to help smallholders get registered with it to cope with the rising cost of living by providing basic necessities like rice, sugar and flour at low prices. On another matter, Zahidi said RM247 million had been allocated for rubber replanting in Sabah involving 11,852 lots with an area of 35,995.96 ha.

Source: Daily “The Malaysian Insider”, Petaling Jaya, Selangor; 4 Mar 2016
(Syed Rashid Ali, Karachi, Pakistan)