April 28, 2022
The price of rubber at the farm level in Kuta Jurung Village, which is still part of the administrative area of Sinembah Tanjung Muda Hilir District, Deliserdang Regency, has decreased, although not significantly. Currently, the price of rubber at the farm level is recorded at Rp. 11,000/kg from the previous set by collectors at Rp. 11,500/kg.
Sungkunen Tarigan, a rubber farmer in the village, when contacted on Thursday (28/4/2022), said that this decline had occurred about 2 to 3 weeks ago. Sungkunen, who manages a 1-hectare rubber plantation, is the Chairman of the Rubber Farmer’s Group Mbuah Page said that the decline in rubber prices caused the number of farmer group members to decrease because many members chose to replace their rubber plantations with other crops, especially oil palm.
According to him, at first, the farmer group members reached 100 people, but now it has been much reduced. However, he did not elaborate on how many farmers have switched crops. He added, this plant’s transition is understandable, considering that rubber is no longer a promising commodity as it was a few years ago.
Sungkunen said that in the past, almost all of the land in his area was planted with rubber trees, but now many hectares have switched to oil palm plantations because the price of rubber is no longer attractive, and planting oil palm is now much more profitable.
Previously, the Executive Secretary of the Rubber Association of Indonesia (GAPKINDO) for North Sumatra (Sumut) Province, Edy Irwansyah, said that the price of TSR20 rubber on the Singapore stock exchange continued to show a downward trend. In trading for April 25, the price of TSR20 rubber was at US$161.4 sen/kg, after briefly touching its highest price at US$177.3 sen/kg on April 5. ***
Source: suaraTani.com