Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia are planning to set up a regional rubber market in the next 18 months that will serve as a platform for better rubber price recovery, as well as an effective hedging function for producers, consumers and market players, local reports said here Friday.
Malaysia's Plantation Industries and Commodities Minister Amar Douglas Uggah Embas was quoted as saying that the framework for the proposed rubber market is completed. "For a start, the regional rubber market will serve as an electronic platform, merging the rubber exchanges of the three countries where it will do physical trading for one month, and subsequently, it will go into futures contract trading,"he said. "We are currently working towards establishing the market, including a report on its viability by the LMC International Group. The report is set to be tabled to the Ministerial Committee by the end of this year," he added.