Discontent among southern rubber farmers against the government has grown even as the government explained it has done its best to ease their woes stemming from plummeting rubber prices. Although world rubber demand remains strong, Thailand exports it mostly as a commodity, making farmers vulnerable to world’ s price swing. Sunthorn Rakrong, secretary-general of the Rubber Planters network of Thailand and chairman of the rubber farmers in 16 southern provinces, expressed their resentment on Facebook on Monday. Normally, 400,000 rai of rubber trees are felled each year and new trees are grown in its place. For from now on, rubber farmers will not tolerate any further.

Source: Bangkok Post July 10, 2017 10:07 UTC