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Contents
ANNIVERSARY - JUNE

18TH ANNIVERSARY ISSUE

2OII - VOLUME T4I

.08

Editorial

i............

lnterview: Datuk Dr. Salmiah

Ahmad, Director General, Malaysian Rubber Board in an interview with M Noorani............ f O

INDIAN RIJBBER JOURN

Cover

Story:

>

Malaysian Rubber Board .............1 6

Tyrexpo India 2Oll:

Chennai. lndia - 5 - 7 Ju1y"........24

LANXESS comPletes acquisition of DSM Elastomers: Dr. Axel C Heitmann.....................32

Apollo continues it agressive overseas push with great sales

performance : ................................. 34 JK Tyres

ll Rs.63 crore:
FY

Profit lallsT2o/oto
.............5O

on the Move Institute:

Jean-Dominique Senard, Managing
General Partner........
............................5

V Climate Change and Malaysian Natural Rubber Production:

Faculty of Agriculture, University Putra
Malaysia..... .........................66

Rubber DeveloPment in Thaifand: by Reyong

Kittipol, Thai Hua Rubber Public Co., 1td....... ..........7 8

. D,ary of World Events o Tyre News a Company News o Natural Rubber a lndian Business News a Auto News o lnternational Business News

46 50 54 58 64 70 88

NATURAT RUBBER

Cfimate Change and Malaysian llfatutel Rubber Production

biggest challenge to mankind flre I in the 2l't century is climate I chanqe. Climate is changing
beyond what was expected and more and more unforeseen externalities are being experienced. Malaysia, a country in the tropical climatic zone, is relatively free from natural disasters but recently it has been experiencing frequent floods in the coastal regions along with an increase in sea level,

temperature and even rainfall which

is

affecting agricultural production.

However, the climate scenario of Malaysia

Porthciyoti Borkotoky

'oky

Dr. lsrnoil Abd

lofil

Dr. Abdullohi Foroh Ahrned

is no different from what the world is experiencing. since climate change ts a

phenomenon. Malaysia's temperature had increased 0. I B 0C per decade for over 40 years since 1951 (MOSTE, 20001; whereas UTM (2007) revealed an average annual rise in sea level byapproximately 1.25
globral

Fotulty ol Agrkulture, Universily Putra Moloysio

Given the above situation, a study was carried out to examine if climate change had contributed to the decline in production on Malaysian natural rubber
(NRJ

30 years, climate has changed in Malaysia

i.e. temperature, rainfall and number of

production. The study team which

rainy days has experrencecl an upwaro trend with relative humidity iRH) on a downward trend. The climate data
confirms that there has been an Increase in temperature of about I (one) degree and an increase of I 50 mm of rainfall. lt is a

mm at a southern coastal site of the

Peninsular Malaysia since 1986.

Malaysia is among the top few rubber economies of the world, third in ranl( in

included Dr. lsmailAbd Latil Dr. Abdullahi Farah Ahmed and the author himself will analyze the relationship between climate variables and total production. In the last

terms of

production with
well-l<nown f or

rubber
a

cultivated land area of 1,247,000 hectares. It is

its
is

superior quality and

widely used as a brenchmark in the

international rubber
market. Rubber is an
important comPonent of

2,005 2,006 2,007 2,008 2,009 Thailand 2,937 3,137 3,056 3,090 3'164 lndonesia 2.27 1 2,637 2,755 2,751 2,440 1,126 1,284 1,200 1,072 857 Malavsia
lndia
Vietnam China
Sri Lanka Philippines Camboclia

Country

Table l:- Production of Natural Rubber from 2OO5 - zOOq

OuantityProduced('Ooo tonesl

fact that the temperature conducive for rubber plant growth is a monthly mean of 25'Cto 28"C, beyond which there will be a decline in production. In case of rainf all, rubber trees getting more than what is required will aiso have a negatlve impact on theyield. A decrease in {relative

humidity) RH will create a drler

environment and along with more dry

spells will leads to more uptake of water

the Malaysian economy,

after oil palm, in terms of

area, production and

value. But there has been

a decline in production since 1997 which was

accompanied bya decline in both yield and area. Table I shows that the Malaysian natural rubber production has declined at a steady rate compared to the other rubber growing countries. Figure I shows the pattern of changes in area and yieid of rubber during the same period of

772 482 s41 104 79 20

853 555 s3B 109 88

21

I 881 606 660 588 548 129 i 18 103 l0l 19 19

8l

820
711

by the plants from the soil and causing water stress. Another important factor is
the number of rainy days where more ratny

643
137

98 34

Source: ANRCP, 2009

days means less harvest latex from the trees. As climate change rmpacts are distressing so it is tjme to act to adapt or to mjtjgate these changes that rubber plantation industry in Malaysia is going to experience in times to come. The

figure I :Areo ('000 heclores) ond yied(kg/ho)from 2005-2009

ri! :a! a_ -+--.'_+

appropriate adaptation method the

government can implement to overcome these jmpacts are by developing flood

and drought control management

systems, use appropriate measures for protection against soil erosion; conserve

600

r0c

groundwater
rocl :l:: :an; loc:
:ao-'

suPPlY, water impoundments, and efficient water

resource systems. But how the magnitudes

time. Yield has shown a sharp decline while area

remains more or less static.

Sourte: D0S,Moloysio (201 0)

of the increase and decrease in climate variables affect NR production rematns to be further analyzed by the study.