Rubber smuggling threatens industry’s recovery
An illicit cross-border rubber trade is thriving in Cambodia amid plummeting global prices and is threatening legitimate processing operations in the country, according to business owners and industry experts. … And while Cambodia’s natural rubber export tariffs are set at between 2 and 10 percent, Vietnam has moved to ease the impact on its rubber farmers, slashing export taxes from 5 to 1 percent last December before removing tariffs altogether on October 2. Prachaya Jumpasut, managing director of London-based industry analysis firm The Rubber Economist Ltd., said Southeast Asia’s illicit rubber trade is particularly sensitive to export taxes. … Pol Sopha, deputy director-general of the General Directorate of Rubber at the Agriculture Ministry, said his department was unable to tackle the black market. …
Kang Sothear and George Styllis
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/business/rubber-smuggling-threatens-industrys-recovery-73210/
