The world's top rubber producers, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia, plan to cut production to help boost global prices, an industry official told AFP today.

Following price falls linked to the lagging global economy and high demand for synthetic equivalents, the three countries' rubber producers and government officials met in Bangkok Wednesday to discuss ways to address the issue.

"The meeting came up with a guideline to help resolve the fall in rubber prices. But it is up to each government to decide if they will follow the meeting's recommendation," said Piyaporn Saelim, manager of the Thai Rubber Association, which attended the meeting.

Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia supply about 70 percent of the world's rubber, the average price of which has fallen from 74.07 baht per kilo a year ago to 60.25 baht (1.72 US dollars) on Oct 29 this year.

Thai media reported the proposal would require Thailand to fell 400,000 rai (64,000 hectares) of trees, while Indonesia would fell 343,750 rai and Malaysia 312,500 rai.

At their lowest levels

Other measures include reducing the amount of rubber tapping per tree and starting rubber tapping a year later, when trees are six-and-a-half years old.

Together the measures would mean the three nations collectively cut production by 215,000 tonnes in 2009.

Piyaporn said government decisions on the plan were expected by early next week.

The rubber industry has suffered in recent weeks from falling oil prices, making synthetic rubber more competitive.

Fears of a global recession and the resulting sluggish demand for cars has further added to pressure on natural rubber prices. About 85 percent of rubber production goes into making tyres.

Asian rubber futures last Friday in Tokyo sank to their lowest levels in nearly two years.

Thailand exported 2.70 million tonnes of rubber last year, produced mostly in its southern and eastern provinces. In the first six months of this year the country exported nearly 1.4 million tonnes of rubber, according to the TRA official website.

-AFP