The Thai Rubber Association (TRA) organized the annual dinner 2023 at the Centara Grand At CentralWorld in Bangkok on Friday, May 12, 2023. The annual dinner was numerously attended by over 1,000 guests, including delegates from various government agencies, private organizations, dignitaries, and rubber businessmen in the country and international. It was our great honor to invite Dr. Kaveechatt Silapapiphat, Chairman of the Rubber Authority of Thailand, and Mr. Nakorn Tangavirapat, Governor of the Rubber Authority of Thailand, to participate. Furthermore, Mr. Nakorn Tangavirapat had the honor of delivering an opening speech. The key address was as follows. 

              

Natural Rubber was one of the most important agricultural products of Thailand and the world. Thailand became the world’s biggest producer and exporter in 1991. In 2021, Thailand covered a tapping area of 3.52 million hectares. Thailand produced 4.82 million tons and exported 4.13 million tons of natural rubber. During the past 5 years, rubber prices in the global markets had fluctuated due to the uncertain economy and politics of trade partners. Especially in 2020–2022, there were trade barrier measures between the US and China, Russia–Ukraine War, and the COVID-19 outbreak, causing a slowdown in rubber prices and exports.

The year 2023 was another year of big challenges for all stakeholders in the rubber industry after the economic recovery from the COVID-19 outbreak, geopolitical issues, and global warming. The Thai Rubber Association (TRA) had given importance to global warming in two issues including Sustainability, and Traceability, aiming for sustainable and eco-friendly business. Recently, many countries had given more importance to climate change and environmental issues such as Net-Zero Emission, Zero-Deforestation, Sustainability, etc. Therefore, all relevant parties should be prepared, acknowledge, and develop products according to these three critical issues. In addition, the drop and volatility in rubber prices affected smallholders across the world, consumers, and producers of rubber-based products, who did not gain that many benefits in the long term. Therefore, all relevant parties, namely smallholders, processors, traders, and consumers, must join hands to bring about a balance of production and consumption. This would help generate remunerative and sustainable prices.

The TRA Annual Dinner 2023 received good cooperation from the public and private sectors, both domestic and international, especially the excellent cooperation from the TRA committee, members, and staff. On behalf of the Thai Rubber Association (TRA), I sincerely thank all participants and distinguished guests. In addition, I hope that this event will strengthen the relationship between rubber producers and users even more.

Mr. Chaiyos Sincharoenkul

President

The Thai Rubber Association