MALAYSIA TO BOOST RUBBER OUTPUT BY 2012

KUALA LUMPUR, April 14 (Bernama) -- Malaysia plans to increase rubber
production by 2012 to 1.8 tonnes per hectare a year from 1.4 tonnes per hectare
a year currently, Plantation Industries and Commodities Minister Bernard Dompok
said Tuesday.

He said the ministry was currently working on better clones to boost yield,
monitoring rubber tappers and smallholders to be better organised and looking at
issues that need clarifications.

"With the limited acreage, we want to see whether we can boost production
capacity so that the 1.24 million hectares of planted land can produce more than
what it is at the moment," he told reporters after visiting the
Rubber Research Institute of Malaysia.

Malaysia is the world's third largest rubber producer after Thailand and
Indonesia.

Dompok said there was no plan to set a floor price for rubber.

"We are now working with Indonesia and Thailand on a price stabilisation
scheme," he added.
-- BERNAMA