Malaysia Modernizes Rubber-Tapping to Remain No. 1 : Southeast Asia: Government hopes to stay competitive by reducing production costs by 20%.

Malaysia, anxious to retain its position as the world’s top producer of rubber, is revolutionizing the industry by scrapping antiquated techniques relying on excessive human labor in favor of innovative machines.

Faced with low prices and a crippling shortage of workers as the young rush to the booming manufacturing sector, Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad has branded traditional rubber-tapping methods as “terribly inefficient” and called for modernization.

Rallying to his challenge and the country’s designation of 1991 as Rubber Technology Year, the Rubber Research Institute of Malaysia (RRIM) has unveiled a device that can tap a large number of rubber trees with little human assistance, reducing production costs by 20%.

The device is dubbed “RRIM-Tap.” Ismail Hashim, head of RRIM’s Tapping and Physiology Exploitation Division, said its inventors are determined to ensure that Malaysia maintains its No. 1 spot.

Ismail said the forerunner to RRIM-Tap was a hand-held, motorized rubber-tapping knife invented in the 1980s.

While it enabled workers to increase the number of trees they tapped from 600 to 1,000 a day, Ismail said a more automated, less labor-dependent system was needed.

Latex, the milky white liquid from the rubber trees, has been in particular demand for rubber gloves and condoms because of worldwide fear of AIDS.

Testing of the RRIM-Tap began last year. Ismail said the device is attached to the tree and, when switched on, begins fully automated tapping in a spiral around the circumference of the trunk. It can be removed and attached to another part of the tree or even to the surface it has tapped before because of its non-damaging piercing mechanism.

RRIM-Tap has a life span of seven years, Ismail said. Its use at night will be a boon for planters, because latex flows most heavily during the night and early dawn hours.

Industry officials lament that natural rubber output in Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand last year were almost equal, although Malaysia maintained an edge. Production in Maylasia fell to 1.29 million tons--its lowest output in 20 years. Malaysia produced 1.42 million tons in 1989.

“For the first time, natural rubber output in the three countries was neck to neck,” an analyst said. “The next few years will be interesting because Indonesia and Thailand are both capable of emerging as the largest producer.”

Malaysia, caught by low commodity prices in the mid-1980s, has been successfully shifting to manufacturing with rosy incentives attracting huge foreign investments, particularly in electronics. Labor costs have risen compared to Indonesia and Thailand along with the rapid industrialization.

Determined to maintain Malaysia’s rubber-industry research and development, scientists have invented a new “reclaimed rubber” to be recycled from latex waste.

Adpol, a joint Malaysian and U.S. company, will start marketing the new product in October. Th reclaimed rubber, for use in the manufacture of sandals, shoe soles, solid tires, adhesives and in blends for road construction, is 30% cheaper than natural rubber.

“The beauty of this is that the new rubber is an answer to the problem of latex wastes,” said Primary Industries Minister Lim Keng Yaik, noting that 5,000 tons of latex waste was discarded last year.

The Rubber Research Institute also has come out with a clone rubber tree expected to beef up the country’s rubber furniture industry. The wood is not only superior in quality to conventional rubber wood but also grows faster and can be logged within 10 to 20 years, said Deputy Primary Industry Minister Mahmud Mansor.

The new clones will be planted on a large scale to ensure a consistent supply of rubber wood for the furniture industry, Mahmud said. He added the potential is immense, with the U.S. market alone worth $1.45 billion annually.

“If Taiwan, with barely any forests, can become one of the world’s biggest furniture manufacturers, there is no reason why Malaysia cannot follow suit,” he said.

Officials said Malaysia is scouring the world for improved rubber-production and rubber-related techniques and technology. Lim said rubber producers hope to attract technology in tire manufacture from developed nations.

Noting that tire production is controlled by a few large companies, Lim suggested that they could set up subsidiaries to help Malaysia penetrate regional, if not international markets.”

The developments are of particular interest to the world’s leading rubber-producing nations, planning a ministerial meeting June 5 in Papua New Guinea to discuss the flagging industry.

Analysts said sagging tire demand, increasing competition from synthetic rubber and a lack of new uses all have contributed to low rubber prices.

The Kuala Lumpur-based Assn. of Natural Rubber Producing Countries--which groups India, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Malaysia--accounts for 84% of the world’s total natural rubber production.

ANRPC figures reflect the industry’s fears. World production dropped from 5.04 million tons in 1989 to 4.8 million last year.