The Export Competitiveness of Thai Rubber Industry in China

Rubber or latex is a material that can be applied in many industries. Rubber is collected from the rubber tree. It can be grown in many climates, but the requirement for growing rubber trees is a minimum rainfall of 1500mm. Thailand is the largest producer of natural rubber in the market. The most significant product export is concentrated latex, technically specified rubber (TSR), ribbed smoked sheet (RSS), and compound rubber. China has a large demand for a rubber with makes China has bargaining power in the rubber market. China has rubber production but has limitations of natural conditions to grow rubber trees. To avoid these natural limiting factors, and to increase the bargaining power of the suppliers, Chinese investors start to invest in neighboring countries are Laos and Vietnam. It significantly increases of area for growing rubber in Laos. But the product is unable to traceability and the absence of rubber standard. There are factors Thailand can maintain and enhance to maintain to get advantages in the global rubber market. Thailand should focus on high quality as supported by scientific sources and emphasize to its consumer the advantages of using Thai-sourced natural latex over all other sources.