NST Leader: The Malaysian Rubber Board's tough road to revive a fading industry

IS Malaysia's natural rubber industry on the rebound?

Like it did in the early 20th century when it was first introduced here? The answers to the questions will become clearer when the Malaysian Rubber Board (MRB) finalises its 2026-2030 Strategic Plan for the industry.

Here is a glimpse of what is on the way, according to Plantation and Commodities Minister Datuk Seri Johari Abdul Ghani. He revealed the details in a speech on Thursday at the International Rubber Economic Conference in Kuala Lumpur.

The plan revolves around four pillars, namely ensuring long-term sustainability, advancing research and development to drive continuous growth and innovation, empowering support services to strengthen the ecosystem of the natural rubber industry, and strengthening the operational efficiency and governance of the MRB.

In whatever shape the board's latest strategic plan is rolled out, it will certainly not be the "bounce" of old. And for good reasons, too.

When the British introduced rubber plantations circa 1900, it was all about production of rubber, with little emphasis on processing and hardly any manufacturing, where value-added happens most. MRB must focus on an all-stream approach if long-term sustainability is the goal.

Importing rubber to add value would certainly be a wrong path to take. Not that it is not happening already. Much of it is coming from Thailand, today the world's largest producer of natural rubber.

Malaysia used to enjoy the sweet spot, but today we are number seven. There are many reasons for this. One is our push to make the country a manufacturing hub in the region, which reduces land available for rubber plantations.

Now both rubber smallholders and plantations have to make do with 1.1 million hectares of land while Thailand devotes double that to natural rubber. The other is the problem within the industry itself. Malaysia, like other rubber producers, is dominated by smallholders with an average of 2ha each.

Many, with old trees, are struggling with productivity issues. There is also a shortage of rubber tappers. Innovation is an uphill task for the industry. The cost of innovation is a persistent issue.

There is a reluctance among the smallholders to adopt innovative methods, resulting in untapped trees in many smallholdings. Such reluctance results in a double whammy: lower productivity and higher production costs.

This isn't a new discovery; MRB has gone public with this in the past. The media, too, has given much space to this.

This may be one reason why Malaysia's rubber imports are rising. Our glove makers use natural rubber imports, mostly from Thailand, according to a December 2020 Bank Islam Malaysia Bhd analysis.

Yet other glove makers use nitrile to manufacture their gloves. Both rob the local natural rubber industry of the chance to regain its bounce of yonder. For the Malaysian economy to do well, there must be mutual support from industries.

They must not leave it all to Putrajaya to solve all the problems. Be that as it may, the government has set in motion many initiatives in an attempt to make the industry regain its past glory. But progress has been slow.

MRB has no option but to make the industry's rebound work.

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