One of the important roles of the Thai Rubber Association (TRA) is to attend meetings and conferences both nationally and internationally to provide useful updated information to members. In 2016, Mr. Bundit Kerdvongbundit, TRA Secretary General and Ms. Piyaporn Saelim, TRA Manager were invited to participate in Global Rubber Conference 2016 under the title “Driving Transformation and Unlocking Opportunities”, organized by Rubber Authority of Thailand in association with Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives and Confexhub Group at Deevana Plaza Aonang, Krabi, Thailand during 11-13 October 2016. In this regard, Mr. Bundit Kerdvongbundit, TRA Secretary General, being an endorser of the event, was given a souvenir by Dr. Teetatch Suksa-ard, Governor of Rubber Authority of Thailand. Wickham Award was given to scientists and researchers who had publicized research paper and innovation, bringing about development in world rubber. Among Thai awardees were Mr. Boonharn Oo-udomying from the Federation of the Thai Industries and Dr. Nopparat Vichitcholchai from Rubber Research Institute of Thailand.

Solutions to falling rubber price were the important goal of the event. Among over 300 guests were entrepreneurs, manufacturers, specialists, government officials, rubber growers, importers, exporters as well as machine suppliers from over 25 countries. These solutions bring about positive atmosphere of world rubber industry, leading towards sustainable development, especially that of smallholders. Presentations in various topics were given. Among them were 1) World commodity situation by Dr. John Baffes, Senior Economist at World Bank 2) Overview of world rubber production and consumption by Mdm. Sheela Thomas, ANRPC Secretary General. In 2023, world NR production is expected at 15.451 million tons. NR demand will be accelerated after 2023. 3) World rubber situation by Dr. Stephen V. Evans, IRSG Secretary General. In 2025, world NR production is expected at 17.6 million tons, surpassing world NR demand expected at 16.4 million tons; while SR demand is expected at 18.6 million tons. 4) Overview of price and its challenge by Dr. Hidde Smit, Rubber Market Forecast Consultant from the Netherlands. He expected that NR consumption demand will climb up by 500,000 tons yearly in the next 10 years and supply glut will be over 3 million tons or 25% of rubber produced in 2020-2022. In addition, NR price is expected at 1.1 US$ per kg during 2016-2022, except that serious tapping restriction will be exercised in Thailand and Indonesia. 5) Rubber price forecast in 2017 by     Dr. Dar Wong, Dektos Investment Corp, Singapore 6) Good agricultural practice among rubber growers for sustainability by representatives from French Agricultural Research Center for International Development (CIRAD), Rubber Research Institute of Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand respectively 7) Price discovery, physical market mechanism and Regional Rubber Market by representatives from Thai and Malaysian government 8) New rubber products, technology and marketing by representatives from Malaysian Rubber Board, Gapkindo, Vietnam Rubber Development Board, National Metal and Materials Technology Center (Thailand) 9) Tire industry innovation, technology, materials and sustainability by representatives from LMC, China rubber Industry Association and Thai Automobile Type Manufacturers Association; and 10)  The future of dipping product industry by representatives from Malaysian Rubber Products Manufacturers Association, Thai Rubber Gloves Manufacturers Association, Hanoi University and Rubber Research Institute of Thailand.

The event has proved an important part of strengthening updated information, knowledge and understandings of rubber among all sectors involved and served as a fuel of accelerated development of world rubber industry.