Industry Ministry Pushes for Increase in Domestic Rubber Consumption

“The rate of domestic consumption is still way below Malaysia, China and India, which utilize over 40 percent of their production,” Airlangga said via press release in Jakarta, Tuesday.According to him, domestic natural rubber consumption for producing goods with high value added comprised about 20 percent of the total national production.In relation to that, the government believes that steps to increase domestic natural rubber consumption must be taken immediately. Moreover, with the policy of the government in the development of sea toll roads, it is deemed to be a big opportunity for the rubber industry to support the needs of the port development, such as rubber dock fender, rubber floating fender, and rubber bumper. “The government will build 24 ports, including the deep sea ports of Kuala Tanjung, Tanjung Priok, Tanjung Perak, Makasar and Sorong, four of which are already underway,” Airlangga said.Meanwhile, Director of Downstream Chemical Industry of the Ministry of Industry Teddy C Sianturi said that the effort to increase domestic natural rubber consumption needs to be supported by the ability of the national industry to absorb natural rubber.“Natural rubber consumption, which currently stands at 580 thousand tons per year, still has the potential to be increased,” he said.The efforts that need to be carried out include export intensification or extensification of rubber goods, as well as the creation of new industrial branches such as aircraft tire industry and aircraft vulcanization industry, which have the potential to absorb natural rubber and generate national foreign exchange.“We have also made efforts in strengthening the rubber goods industry structure, providing incentives to high-tech and export-oriented industries, as well as developing industrial estates,” he explained.Teddy added that the program of increasing domestic natural rubber consumption must be accompanied by sustainability and development of existing industries. “One of them is the tire industry, as an industry that absorbs 45 percent, or about 270 thousand tons of the total domestic natural rubber consumption,” he said.He said that tires are one of the mainstay export commodities, with 70 percent of total production allocated for export markets and export value reaching 1.5 billion US dollars per year. “Tires are a product whose market share is determined by market mechanisms. Variation of the models, sizes, and technologies applied determine the brand image in the society,” he said.
Editor: B Kunto Wibisono
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