Rubber prices 'increase' at the end of the season

(Baonghean) - The rubber market is gradually warming up, positively affecting the income of rubber growers in the province, which has been "frozen" for a long time. Although it is the end of the season, rubber growers are still actively exploiting.

Ms. Hoang Thi Thanh, owner of a 1-hectare rubber garden in Hamlet 16, Nghia Binh Commune (Nghia Dan) is diligently collecting latex at the end of the season. Through discussion, she said: Her family's rubber garden was planted in 2007, and by 2013, the price of latex had dropped too low, the daily income was not much, so the family stopped tapping latex. The couple once considered cutting it down to plant other trees, but thought it was a pity and left it as it was.

A few months ago, her family took advantage of the opportunity to tap latex, although the price was low, it still provided daily income. For nearly a month now, Nghe An 1/5 Company Limited has been purchasing at a higher price than last month, so every day she spends a session tapping 1 hectare of rubber, getting about 30 kg of latex, bringing it to the company to dry and sell at 17,000 VND/kg, which means she earns 250,000 VND per day from the rubber garden.

However, according to Ms. Thanh, if the rubber area is 2 hectares or more, the garden owner must hire workers to exploit and pay them 100,000 VND/shift, so the garden owner still has little income. She hopes that in the future, rubber prices will be higher so that growers can have a stable income.

Ms. Hoang Thi Thanh, hamlet 16, Nghia Binh commune (Nghia Dan) exploits rubber latex.

According to Mr. Phan Tuan Cuong - Director of Nghe An 1/5 LLC, since the beginning of November, due to many objective and subjective reasons, the world rubber price has tended to increase gradually, affecting the rubber production situation in the area, so rubber growers have gradually stabilized. At the end of 2015, the price of raw rubber was 21 million VND/ton, 2 months ago it increased to 25 million VND/ton, currently it is 32 million VND/ton, it is forecasted that the rubber price will continue to increase in the coming time.

However, when the price of rubber increased, the company's rubber area decreased significantly, even 220 hectares of rubber have been neglected by people for a long time, or exploited in an exhaustive manner. The reason is that the Provincial People's Committee previously issued a document to reclaim 220 hectares of rubber to hand over the land to TH Milk Company, but up to now it has not been completely implemented. Along with that, up to 300 hectares of rubber were cut down and converted to grow other types of trees, so the company's rubber area is now only nearly 500 hectares.

Some companies send tankers to rubber plantations to buy latex for growers. Photo: Nguyen Son

At Xuan Thanh Agricultural Company Limited (Quy Hop), rubber prices are also having a positive impact on rubber growers. It is known that the company currently has 453 hectares of rubber, of which 412 hectares are in the business phase. According to Mr. Hoang Van Minh - Director of the company, the company is currently purchasing rubber latex at 6,500 VND/kg, an increase of more than 1,000 VND compared to last month. With this price, rubber growers have an income, 1 hectare of rubber if well cared for, moderate density, 50 kg of latex can be tapped per day, if not, 30 kg of latex per day, rubber growers have over 200,000 VND/day.

However, in the area, some households have cut down rubber trees to grow oranges. According to Mr. Minh, not all lands can grow oranges with high yield and good quality, so people need to maintain the existing rubber area. The company prohibits households that have received land contracts from cutting down rubber trees to grow other trees, to avoid chasing the market and losing out in production.

At An Ngai Agricultural Company Limited (Tan Ky), there are 600 hectares planned for rubber planting, up to now, 450 hectares have been planted, in addition, the unit also has 200 hectares of small rubber plantations. Currently, rubber prices have increased compared to last month, from 14,000 VND to 16,000 VND/kg of raw latex, 7,200 VND/kg of liquid latex. Rubber prices have increased, however, this is the end of the season, so the amount of rubber latex that people exploit is not much.

Rubber latex exploitation in Nghia Dan. Photo: Archive

It is forecasted that from 2016, the world rubber price will gradually "warm up", which means that rubber production will gradually stabilize. Therefore, the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development recommends that people should maintain the existing rubber area, continue to take care of it, and wait until the price of rubber latex increases to focus on exploitation. Because, to grow a rubber tree to the age of latex production, it takes 7 years of construction and this tree has a durability of exploitation of over 40 years.

X.Hoang - Q.An