Ye-- Even though the price of rubber has increased, rubber plantation owners in Mon State are worried about their businesses.

According to a Mon businessman in Moulmein, local farmers are watching the relationship between the SPDC and cease-fired groups very closely.

“People are listening to radios every day to see if fighting has broken out between the Burmese Army and ethnic armed forces on the China-Burma border.  China is the main exporter of rubber, and political instability makes things difficult for rubber farmers,” said Nai Myo Lwin, plantation owner and businessman from Ye.  “If the cease-fire breaks in southern Burma, we cannot cultivate our plantations in the border region,” he added.

The New Mon State Party (NMSP) started the Border Development Project to develop rubber plantations in rural areas.  Many acres of land along the World War Two Japanese railway have been turned into rubber plantations. Farmers have been waiting for better prices despite the slow economy. The political situation is yet another factor to worry about.

Mon State has approximately 200,000 acres of rubber plantations. Rubber trees are also grown in Tenasserim (Tanintharyi) Division, Karen, Arakan, Shan, and Kachin States.  In Ye township, rubber serves as a replacement for betel nut on many farms because traditional betel nut growers face difficulties due to dry weather.

The rubber compounding factories in Mon State produce exports for China and other neighboring countries.

According to the Myanmar Rubber Planters and Producers Association, the price of RSS-5 rubber, which was US$ 1,000 in June, is now US$ 1600.  Myanmar exports between 40,000 and 50,000 tons of rubber to China annually.  Myanmar has more than 1 million acres of rubber plantations and produces about 80,000 tons a year.