Rubber/Gum
News
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Unproductive Rubber Tree Rejuvenation A Success
In Liberia - 25/06/10
An Canadian renewable energy firm Buchanan Renewables Power [BRP]
began commercial operations in Liberia 2-years ago with a complete
rejuvenation package for the non-producing rubber tree estates.
The deal for the farmers includes $2 per tonne of tree trunks,
free of cost re-plantation and for self-use or sale tree remnants
which do not go into the production of wood chips.
Liberia is estimated
to have more than 600,000ha of overgrown and moribund rubber farms.
The new model of rubber re-plantation
rids of farmers’ laborious task of re-claiming their estates
by cutting down trees and re-planting them spending money without
revenues for a long period. After planting, the trees take nearly
7-years to start producing rubber. Usually rubber trees need to
be replaced once they are over 25 years old, and most of them in
Liberia are between 30 and 60 years old. While helping farmers,
the new project will also provide electricity to communities in
the vicinity as well as has opened up exports to the woodchip markets
of Europe.
BRP uses massive diggers to uproot trees and a giant
mincer to produce rubber wood chips out of the trunks. The company
has
exported
45,000MT of chips last year with contracts of about 90,000MT
for this year; and plans to clear 10,000ha annually. Buchanan claims
that it has the capacity to produce 400,000 tonnes of woodchips
per annum. [TOBOC 25/06/10]
Malaysia Sets Rubber Levy - 28/09/09
Malaysia, the world’s 3rd largest producer of rubber, imposed
a new levy of 4sen a kg on imported rubber for re-export and compound
rubber in a move to reduce reliance on imports and support local
production.The small levy was unlikely to affect prices [3.85 sen
previously], with demand for Malaysian rubber expected to remain
steady, but dealers said the decision reflected concerns over declines
in domestic production blamed on shrinking tapping areas. All changes
took effect from 01/09/09.
Domestic dealers have been importing more African rubber, particularly
the STR10 grade, this year. The African raw material, which normally
comes from Liberia and Ivory Coast, is mixed Malaysia’s
SMR20 before being sold to customers like China. [RT 28/09/09]
Cote D’Ivoire Rubber Exports Rise -
16/07/09
The Port of Abijdan noted rubber exports from Cote d’Ivoire,
the continent’s biggest producer of the commodity, rose 3.6%
to 9,042 tons in June, while cotton shipments fell 35% to 12,688
tons. [BL 16/07/09]
Liberia: Guthrie Rubber Plantation Rehabilitation
- 29/07/08
Sime Darby [www.simedarby.com] will invest US$800 million over
a 20-year period to boost the Liberian economy. The company will
firstly rehabilitate the Guthrie Rubber Plantation situated in
Bomi and Grand Cape Mount Counties. Sime Darby will also cultivate
an estimated 220,000 hectares of rubber and oil palm in Bomi,
Gbarpolu, Grand Cape Mount and Bong Counties.
With the government's
final approval of the deal, the company's executives are said
to be heading for Liberia for the official
turning over ceremony of the Guthrie plantation. Planting of
new rubber trees will commence in June and July 2010. Many workers
on the plantation want the government to pay them out before the
new company takes over Guthrie. Observers say this
may pose some challenge for Sime Darby, and may slow down activities
if it is not properly handled. Sime Darby will also have the challenge
of building roads, new housing structures, schools and clinics...
[TI 29/07/09]
Liberia Delays Rubber Re-Planting Plans Due
to Slump in Prices - May 2009
Liberia, Africa’s second-largest rubber producer after Core
d’Ivoire, is delaying plans to replant aging trees because
of falling demand for the commodity due to the global recession.
At the start of 2008, rubber sold for more than US$1,000 a metric
ton now agents are buying a ton for US$250 well below the government-mandated
price of US$450. [Rubber production surged 45% last year, boosting
economic growth in Liberia, which is recovering from 14 years of
civil war.]
Firestone Dragging Feet On CBA Implementation
- 22/05/09
Nine months ago, the management of Firestone Rubber Plantation
in Liberia and the workers union signed a Collective Bargaining
Agreement [CBA]. Among the issues covered under the agreement
was a pay raise for the workers, a controversial daily production
quota
and child labour. According to the Firestone Agriculture Workers
Union of Liberia [FAWUL] many issues are still to be implemented
by the company. [VOA 22/05/09]
World Rubber Industry Conference - 22/05/09
The World Rubber Industry conference was recently held in Nashville,
United States during 11-13/05/09. [22/05/09]
Malaysian Investors
Take Over Guthrie As Ellen Signs US$800 Million Deal - 04/05/09
Malaysia's biggest company Sime Darby has struck a deal with
the Liberian government to develop oil palm and rubber estates
in the
nation as land runs out at home and global demand for palm oil
surges. Sime will invest an initial US$20 million for 10,000
hectares of oil palm estates but an industry source said the
investment
for the 63-year concession would eventually run to 220,000 hectares
of land at a cost of US$800 million. The Agriculture Concession
Agreement includes the rehabilitation and expansion of the Guthrie
Rubber Plantation, the country's second largest, covering much
of Bomi County and part of Grand Cape Mount County in western
Liberia. Sime Darby's Liberian venture is the latest in a series
of deals struck by foreign firms and nations with African nations
to secure
food supplies. Sime's rival, Singaporean oil palm giant Wilmar
International, struck a deal in Africa last year, while Italian
firm Fri-el Green is signing a pact with Congo to develop 40,000
hectares of oil palm for biofuels. [RT 04/05/09]
Goodyear Posts Quarterly Loss; Revenue Slumps
- 29/04/09
Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co posted a quarterly net loss pressured
by the deep downturn in demand for tires from automakers and
the replacement market. The company posted a net loss of US$333-million,
or US$1.38 per share, in the first quarter, compared with a profit
of US$147-million, or 60 cents per share, a year earlier. Shares
of the largest US tire market fell 4% in premarket trading. Revenue
fell to US$3.5-billion in the quarter from US$4.9-billion a year
earlier as total tire production fell 20% worldwide. Tire
sales to vehicle manufacturers typically make up about 30% of
Goodyear's
overall production and 20% of its revenue. In past auto production
downturns, the replacement tire market has picked up as demand
from manufacturers fell. The rising cost of raw materials also
pressured Goodyear results. Due to the method for accounting
for inventory
of raw materials,
tires sold today are based on raw materials costs that were peaking
a half year ago. [RT 29/04/09]
Liberia: Firestone Suffers From More
Fire / Over 1,000 Trees Affected - 20/04/09
Two fire incidents [13/04/09 and 15/04/09] have left at least
1,000 rubber trees burnt in the Firestone Liberia concession
area.
[TI 20/04/09]
Liberia: The Sinoe Rubber Plantation - 08/04/09
The Sinoe Rubber Plantation [SRP] is one of Liberia's largest at
over 242 hectares. The SRP lies 30-km from the coastal town of
Greenville, that’s 30-km of rutted dirt road and damaged
wooden bridges that are barely navigable during the rainy season.
Bordering the mineral-rich forest of Sapo National Park, it is
home to the indigenous Wedjah community, and an influx of ex-combatants
and civilian families looking for work. The plantation is not prospering:
with a recent drop in global rubber prices and the majority of
trees bled dry from overexploitation,
the coummunity lacks basic services. A tonne of rubber worth $1,200
in Greenville a year ago collects US$282 there today. For the past
3-months there have been food shortages. Tappers now climb over
4-m up the tallest trees to bleed them for latex; exhausting and
hazardous work for little gain.
President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf's
government has aggressively looked for companies to invest
in Liberia's most valuable resources
- rubber, iron ore and timber - but the global economic meltdown
in September 2008 has hit the country's concessions particularly
hard. Potential investors, who have expressed interest in not
only rubber or oil palm, are now either scaling down their plans,
or
asking for more incentives from government, or one or two of
them have bowed out all together.
The government intends to find
a suitable concessionaire willing to invest long-term in the
plantation. However the minister of
agriculture is awaiting a resolution to a land dispute filed
in the courts by former President William Tolbert's family, toppled
from power by a violent coup in 1980 before establishing an interim
management team for the SRP. Meanwhile UK-based charity Landmine
Action is setting up an alternative agricultural program for ex-combatants
from SRP in nearby Panama,
modelled after their project in Guthrie Rubber Plantation. [08/04/09]
Liberia’s President Rescinds Restrictions
On Unprocessed Rubber Exports - 30/03/09
President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf has signed a declaration easing
restrictions on the export of unprocessed rubber from the SE region
of Liberia. The restriction was imposed last year by the president
under Executive Order number 16. Under the declaration, President
Johnson Sirleaf has directed that the restriction and prohibition
imposed on the exportation of rubber, relating to farmers of the
SE region of Liberia, is hereby eased and temporarily lifted until
otherwise ordered. Although the restrictions have been eased, some
farmers will be expected to uphold every other provision of the
Executive Order, to ensure that the intent to curb theft on rubber
plantations and prevent violence are strictly adhered to. Should
there be any violation of the provisions, the declaration concludes,
the easing and lifting of the restrictions on the export of rubber
shall be reconsidered and the restrictions re-imposed. [AA 30/03/09]
Liberia: New Rubber Processing Factory for
Maryland County - 26/03/09
Ground-breaking for the construction of a rubber processing plant
for the Cavalla Rubber Corporation (CRC) has taken place in Gedetarbo,
Pleebo District in Maryland County. The Managing Director of Cavalla
Rubber Corporation, Jean de Failly the company has designed a rehabilitation
program, with the aim of restoring the plantation to the high standard
it had reached in the eighties including the rehabilitation of
50-km of public road from Harper to Pleebo. [Liberia Government
26/03/09]
Clashes During Liberian Rubber Plantation
Strike - 24/03/09
Some 3,000 employees of one of Liberia's biggest state-owned
rubber plantations, who have been on strike for several weeks
because
of delays in salary payments, have now clashed with the police.
Senator Laha Lassana appealed to staff to go back to work a
few weeks ago and promised their salaries would be paid. But
when
the workers at the Guthrie rubber plantation in Western Bomi
County ended their strike, the senator did not keep his promise
and tensions flared. Lassana was taken hostage and was reported
to have shot several staff members before police stepped in. After
the end of Liberia's brutal back-to-back civil wars between 1989
and 2003 the Guthrie plantation was overrun by former fighters
who decided to exploit the rubber illegally. After an intervention
by the United Nations UNMIL forces in Liberia the government was
able to take over the plantation but agreed to employ around 3,000
former fighters to work there. [AFP 24/03/09]
President Sirleaf
Moves to Quell Labour Unrest At Guthrie - 19/03/09
A meeting took place in Monrovia between President Ellen Johnson
Sirleaf, representatives of the workers at Guthrie Rubber Plantation,
and the plantation's management team on 19/03/09. The meeting
was aimed at resolving the recent labour unrest on the plantation.
Following discussions with the concerned parties, the President
has requested that Morris American Rubber Company manage Guthrie
in the interim period. The team is to work with the Government
in settling the arrears of the workers. [Liberia Government 19/03/09]
Nigeria
Rubber Processors Want Land Tenure Regime Changed To Woo Investors
- 11/03/09
The Manufacturers Association of Nigeria Rubber Processors Group
has called on the federal government to liberalise the land tenure
system in the country to encourage investors to go into largescale
farming. The manufacturers asked the government to also review
some of its policies and practices that are not favourable to
rubber and other produce exporters. According to the group, investors
in the non-oil sector should be leased land for a period of 99
years, which could be renewable every 20 years and companies
investing
in new rubber plantations or other cash crop developments should
be exempted from all forms of taxes and levies during the first
10 years. Chairman of the group, Bishop Stafford Obrutse, said
the lack of infrastructure, high cost of production, high interest
rate and lack of timely access to credit facilities had continued
to hamper development of the non-oil sector. [TN 11/03/09]
Liberia Discuses Revival Of Palm And Rubber
Plantations - 29/01/09
Liberia is in negotiations with foreign companies to revive key
commodity sectors, including palm oil and rubber, after years
of civil war. President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf said the government
is in talks with Kuala Lumpur-based Sime Darby about reactivating
and expanding Guthrie, the country's third-largest rubber plantation,
as well as with Salala Rubber and Societe Internationale De Plantation
D'Heveas for the Cavalla plantation in Maryland County.
Talks are
also being held with Sithe Global Power to help expand rubber
and palm oil output, and with BHP Billiton for iron ore
exploration at the Kitoma mines in the Grand Bassa and Nimba
counties. Similar negotiations are taking place with Mano River
Resources
about iron-ore deposits in the Puti range in Grand Gedeh county.
[PL 29/01/09]
Sierra Leone Lifts Ban On Rubber Exports
- 08/01/09
According to reports in the Awareness Times, Sierra Leone’s
permanent secretary in the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry
and Food Security Augustine Sheku has revealed that the government
has lifted the ban on the export and processing of rubber with
immediate effect.
[AT 08/01/09]
Cameroon Hevecam Says To Double Rubber Output
- 10/11/08
Singapore-listed rubber planter and processor GMG Global will double
natural rubber production at its Hevecam plantation in southern
Cameroon. Chinese state oil trader Sinochem bought a 51% stake
in GMG earlier this year, and the rubber firm wants to boost
output to meet what it expects will be strong demand from China.
The company has recently acquired 46,000ha of land near Kribi
to extend its Hevecam plantation and hopes to double production
in a few years.
GMG owns a 90% stake in Societe d'Hevea du Cameroun
[Hevecam] which runs a 40,000 acre industrial rubber plantation
at Niete,
outside the coastal town of Kribi. Hevecam has an annual capacity
of 30,000 tonnes, but production for export was 23,952.52 tonnes
in 2007, expected to rise to 28,158 tonnes by the end of 2008.
Hevecam was established by the Cameroonian government in 1975
and bought by GMG in 1996 after it was privatised, though Cameroon
retains 10% of the company.
Meanwhile China, a major rubber consumer,
has approved a $586 billion government spending package to boost
domestic demand. [RT
10/11/08]
3% African Discount On Rubber Exports Waived
- 21/08/08
The National Executive Council [NEC] of the Rubber Out-growers
and Agents Association [ROAA] has reached an agreement to waive
3% African discount imposed on rubber exports. The waive, which
implies an additional income to farmers in the sector, took effect
from the beginning of July 2008. [GNA 21/08/08]
