Thailand to open Rubber City in early 2018
Thailand’s Ministry of Industry said it will open the new Rubber City industrial estate in the southern Hat Yai district of Songkhla province near the Malaysian border for investors to start their operations at the beginning of next year after the project has reached 50 per cent of completion.
The Rubber City, spanning over 200 hectares or half of the Southern Industrial Estate, is aimed at attracting investors who want to develop the rubber-processing industry and, at the same time, add value to rubber products in Thailand while encouraging employment and skills training in collaboration with regional technical colleges in the agriculture dominated south.
With southern Thailand being home to most the country’s latex plantations with over 70 per cent of national latex supply, the Rubber City would be developed into a cluster for rubber products, from midstream to downstream industries, such as rubber innovations, concentrated latex, compound rubbers and others. That should triple Thailand’s domestic rubber consumption and boost exports, according to the planning.
The Thai government is targeting around $10 billion worth of investments for the Rubber City in the medium term, and the estate is expected to draw operators for at least 70 factories over the next five years.
“Investments in the Rubber City are designed to add value to products such as tires and medical equipment, as well as car and aircraft parts. The project is expected to be fully invested by 2021, when demand for latex rubber and rubber sheets is due to rise substantially,” says Veerapong Chaiperm, governor of the Industrial Estate Authority of Thailand, a government agency which develops the $235-million project.
The authority has already started selling land to investors who want to set up their factories in the first phase of the project. French tire maker Michelin has already started works on their facility in Rubber City. Investors from China and Malaysia, among the latter glove producer Glove Corp and condom maker Karex, have expressed their interest in the estate.
Meanwhile, a similar project is being planned in neighbouring Padang Terap district in Malaysia by Malaysian authorities, A 600-hectar rubber industrial park called Kota Putra Rubber City should link the region’s major rubber producers – Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia – as part of the Indonesia-Malaysia-Thailand Growth Triangle. The first phase of this project is expected to be completed in 2018 and the first downstream rubber product factories would go into operations in 2019.
Thailand's Ministry of Industry said it will open the new Rubber City industrial estate in the southern Hat Yai district of Songkhla province near the Malaysian border for investors to start their operations at the beginning of next year after the project has reached 50 per cent of completion. The Rubber City, spanning over 200 hectares or half of the Southern Industrial Estate, is aimed at attracting investors who want to develop the rubber-processing industry and, at the same time, add value to rubber products in Thailand while encouraging employment and skills training in collaboration with regional technical colleges in...
Thailand’s Ministry of Industry said it will open the new Rubber City industrial estate in the southern Hat Yai district of Songkhla province near the Malaysian border for investors to start their operations at the beginning of next year after the project has reached 50 per cent of completion.
The Rubber City, spanning over 200 hectares or half of the Southern Industrial Estate, is aimed at attracting investors who want to develop the rubber-processing industry and, at the same time, add value to rubber products in Thailand while encouraging employment and skills training in collaboration with regional technical colleges in the agriculture dominated south.
With southern Thailand being home to most the country’s latex plantations with over 70 per cent of national latex supply, the Rubber City would be developed into a cluster for rubber products, from midstream to downstream industries, such as rubber innovations, concentrated latex, compound rubbers and others. That should triple Thailand’s domestic rubber consumption and boost exports, according to the planning.
The Thai government is targeting around $10 billion worth of investments for the Rubber City in the medium term, and the estate is expected to draw operators for at least 70 factories over the next five years.
“Investments in the Rubber City are designed to add value to products such as tires and medical equipment, as well as car and aircraft parts. The project is expected to be fully invested by 2021, when demand for latex rubber and rubber sheets is due to rise substantially,” says Veerapong Chaiperm, governor of the Industrial Estate Authority of Thailand, a government agency which develops the $235-million project.
The authority has already started selling land to investors who want to set up their factories in the first phase of the project. French tire maker Michelin has already started works on their facility in Rubber City. Investors from China and Malaysia, among the latter glove producer Glove Corp and condom maker Karex, have expressed their interest in the estate.
Meanwhile, a similar project is being planned in neighbouring Padang Terap district in Malaysia by Malaysian authorities, A 600-hectar rubber industrial park called Kota Putra Rubber City should link the region’s major rubber producers – Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia – as part of the Indonesia-Malaysia-Thailand Growth Triangle. The first phase of this project is expected to be completed in 2018 and the first downstream rubber product factories would go into operations in 2019.
