July 12, 2023
The rubber-based industry in Indonesia is entirely developed with a variety of products. To maintain the fulfilment of raw material needs, the Ministry of Industry hopes that the conversion of rubber plantations to other commodities will decrease. Merrijantij Punguan Pintaria, Director of Forest and Plantation Products Industry, Directorate General of Agro-Industry, Ministry of Industry, stated this to Plantation Media.
The Ministry of Industry has carried out various interventions in the upstream rubber industry, but it still needs to be developed, so the results are not optimal. The interventions carried out are expected to have a significant impact on farmers. Indeed, the results will take time to be visible, but you will still try your best.
According to the woman familiarly called Merri, the efforts that have been, are being and will be made by the Ministry of Industry are not aimed at returning rubber to its heyday like in the past. At least farmers can prosper from their rubber so that conversion to other crops can be reduced or stopped. He hopes that not only the Ministry of Industry will move, but all other agencies under the director general of the Coordinating Ministry for the Economy will also move to achieve this goal.
Some of the Ministry of Industry’s policies include facilitating energy conversion in the crumb rubber industry. The goal is to make the industry more efficient. In 2016, through a Presidential Decree, a moratorium on the crumb rubber industry was also made to reduce idle capacity.
These two policies aim to make the crumb rubber industry more efficient. If the drive is efficient, they are hoping to buy farmers’ bokar at a higher price. But in the field, because factories buy through intermediary traders, only a few buy directly from farmer cooperatives, and the intense competition between factories to purchase raw materials makes it not work as expected in the field.
Another effort, added Merri, is the assistance of equipment packages to turn solid rubber into powder which can be used for rubber asphalt. This way, crumb rubber or rubber compound can be made into powder for rubber asphalt. Another assistance is for farmers to process bokar into rubber sheets, but this has yet to succeed.
Farmers produce 90% of rubber, so to maintain an adequate supply, it is essential to keep the rubber area for farmers. Do not let the rubber area decrease; the industry relies on raw imported rubber. Yesterday’s COVID-19 experience showed that many factories were not operating not because of restrictions (the Ministry of Industry succeeded in making a policy so that factories could operate) but because there was no raw material because the ships were not moving due to lockdowns everywhere. The industrial structure must be firm with using raw materials as much as possible from within the country.
The rubber industry is also a priority in the national industrial development master plan. Presidential Decree number 74 of 2022 concerning National Industrial Policy also includes efforts to increase the use of rubber. The Directorate General of Agro-Industry at the Ministry of Industry only operates upstream industries, while the downstream sectors, such as tires, mattresses, bridge bearings and others, are under the guidance of the Directorate General of Chemical, Pharmaceutical and Textile Industries. Coordination between the Directorate General of Agro Industries and the Directorate General of Chemical, Pharmaceutical and Textile Industries will also be improved.
The Directorate General of Agro Industries held a rubber workshop last year as a follow-up to reconcile supply and demand. From the demand side, what is expected is continuity of supply. Now the downstream industry, to get supply certainty, imports a lot from Vietnam. Meanwhile, from the supply side, we are asking for price certainty. With this meeting, it is hoped that the industry will receive raw material supplies from within the country.
The Ministry of Industry, emphasized Merri, wants the domestic industry to have a strong structure. Indonesia, with a population of 260-270 million people, is a big market. If the downstream industry in the country is developing while the upstream is not, there will be a problem, namely a shortage of raw materials. Therefore, the main rubber commodity is to strengthen the upstream industry. ***
Source: mediaperkebunan.id