Govt urged to build roads and rail lines using Thai rubber

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Govt urged to build roads and rail lines using Thai rubber
Surat Atta
The Nation


Suthichai Yoon, chairman of Nation Multimedia Group Plc, holds a tripartite seminar on the price of rubber on Friday.

BANGKOK: -- The government should draw up an alternative strategy to ensure sustainable growth in the rubber industry by establishing a downstream industry instead of relying solely on exports, which has caused farmers to suffer from price swings and manipulation, a seminar heard recently.

The seminar organised by Nation TV brought together Amnuay Patise, deputy agriculture minister; Uthai Sonlaksab, chairman of the Rubber Council of Thailand; Sangwin Tuadhoi, chairman of the Rubber Farmers Network and other key representatives from rubber farmers and industry.

Although tappers were satisfied with the government's measures to shore up the rubber price, with rib smoked sheet quoted at Bt60 per kilogram and latex at Bt37-Bt38, they urged the government not to fix the rubber price at Bt60.

Amnuay said the government aimed to push up the rubber price, not to keep it at any particular level.

Suthichai Yoon, the seminar host, said that although Thailand was the world's largest rubber exporter, the rubber industry lacked a strategy, strength and cohesion. It could not leverage for bargaining power, unlike other commodities and industries such as sugar and sugarcane.

Since rubber is one commodity that is subject to price manipulation and speculation, prices do not reflect the real market mechanism of demand and supply but depend on manipulators, he said.

To ensure sustainable growth that helps farmers weather price fluctuations, the industry needs to strengthen the upstream, midstream and downstream parts of the supply chain. That would ensure farmers get stronger bargaining power.

Uthai said the rubber industry consists of many farmer groups and organisations but they do not go in the same direction because each group has different supporters who have different objectives.

Tossapol Kwanrod, a representative of rubber farmers, supported the proposal for the government to establish a downstream industry such as using rubber to build roads. Local administrative organisations in 14 southern provinces were ready to implement the project.

"What we are waiting for is the announcement from the government to make a commitment toward this development direction. And it's not just roads, we can use rubber to make boots, hats and many other products,'' he said.

Uthai said the government had not started the rubber road construction project because of information discrepancy. State agencies were asked to provide an estimate of how much rubber was needed to build one kilometre of road. The Highways Department, for example, reported 700 kilograms while the Rubber Institute claimed 3.5 tonnes.

When Wan Muhammad Noor Matha was the transport minister, a rubber road was built and though many years had passed, the road was still in good condition.

"It's as if this industry is haunted by a ghost. I wonder why there is such a big discrepancy in the figures. Maybe we should not just look at the figure but the real rubber road that had been built,'' he said.

Chetta Meemankong, from Thai Hua Rubber Plc, director of the Research and Development Institute, said Thailand had established upstream and midstream rubber industries but lacked a downstream industry. "Although we are the largest rubber exporter, we do not have any universities that specialise and educate students who can help develop the rubber industry in terms of commerce and downstream industries.

"China is not a large exporter but it has universities dedicated to rubber that teach students rubber production to high technology such as producing plane tyres. We do not have this.

'Use rubber on dual rail tracks'

"We are planning to build dual rail tracks and we can use rubber to support the train track instead of cement,'' he said.

Uthai urged rubber farmers to get together and start small-scale industries making chairs, stools and household utensils from rubber. The government could play a supporting role by finding markets for these products or disseminating knowledge to establish the industry, he said.

Amnuay said with the legislation of a national rubber bill, which is being drafted by the National Reform Council, the rubber industry could move in one direction and with a strategy.

Uthai put high hopes on the National Legislative Assembly passing the bill, saying that once an elected government is installed, it would be harder for the bill to get enacted because of opposition parties.

Latest prices

Auction prices at the central rubber market in Songkhla 26 December, 2014
Rubber sheet Bt56
Rubber ribbed smoked sheet No 3 Bt60.5
Latex at factories Bt43
Crumb rubber at factories Bt40

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/national/Govt-urged-to-build-roads-and-rail-lines-using-Tha-30250871.html


-- The Nation 2014-12-29

[Hornell]

I'm looking forward to reading replies on this topic!

[Robby nz]

Substituting rubber for cement in the mixing of concrete may just be a stretch too far.

[Skywalker69]

Substituting rubber for cement in the mixing of concrete may just be a stretch too far.

But very soon we can take a tripp along Condom Aveny. 55555

[NeverSure]

I thought they already made railroad tracks out of rubber. Oh, they mean the cross ties.

[NeverSure]

These brilliant Thais could make a huge rubber band and put a man on the moon.

[Kooweerup]

Wasn't Wan Muhammad Noor Matha a member of the Thaksin administration? Places like Australia have been using rubber in the construction of low impact roads for quite a few years. Old tyres are shredded/recycled and used for the construction of bike lanes, coastal retaining walls and playgrounds. Very durable and lasts years.

[sirineou]

Substituting rubber for cement in the mixing of concrete may just be a stretch too far.

old tires are used in many places in the world as a filler in road paving

http://www.nsf.gov/discoveries/disc_summ.jsp?cntn_id=131175

[chainarong]

Nothing like bouncing along at 150 on a Chinese built railway, the building of hard rubber compound sleepers has some merit, flexing would be a problem unless supported properly, various systems over the years have experimented with sleeper constructions with the concrete the flavour of the month, any invention to prove up to accepted standards done properly, (unless in operation somewhere else) and if proven would take up to 10 years anyway, so nothing will happen overnight that the rubber farmers want, as for rubber rail s or wheels , forget it.

Edited December 29, 2014 by chainarong

[SABloke]

I fail to see how 700kg or even 3.5 tonnes of rubber would ever be enough for 1km of road. Any civil engineers out there that could perhaps clarify?

[Bluespunk]

Wasn't this idea for using rubber (at least for roads) suggested last year?

[noitom]

A Thai conference led by the same guy who signs off on most of the news and opinion pieces in this Thai newspaper would be content free like the newspaper.

[bunnydrops]

I remember back in the 60s, Disney did a short "why not" cartoon with roads made of rubber and wheels made of cement.

[NeverSure]

Substituting rubber for cement in the mixing of concrete may just be a stretch too far.

old tires are used in many places in the world as a filler in road paving

http://www.nsf.gov/discoveries/disc_summ.jsp?cntn_id=131175

Tires are hardened with carbon black and other materials. They also use some synthetic rubber (from oil) in the mix. Natural rubber wouldn't wear well being too soft.

[Ricardo]

Perhaps they might try using rubber, to build pavements (aka sidewalks), it might put a bounce in the step of pedestrians using them !

[BirdsandBooze]

I fail to see how 700kg or even 3.5 tonnes of rubber would ever be enough for 1km of road. Any civil engineers out there that could perhaps clarify?

Only a tiny amount is necessary. It's used to bind bitumen and make it more resistant to cracking.

[maidee]

and they can use rice to mix it all up

so rubber rail roads

and you wonder why every week, one derails

[The Deerhunter]

Rubber roads. Is that an infrastructure bounce-back?

[The Deerhunter]

Nothing like bouncing along at 150 on a Chinese built railway, the building of hard rubber compound sleepers has some merit, flexing would be a problem unless supported properly, various systems over the years have experimented with sleeper constructions with the concrete the flavour of the month, any invention to prove up to accepted standards done properly, (unless in operation somewhere else) and if proven would take up to 10 years anyway, so nothing will happen overnight that the rubber farmers want, as for rubber rail s or wheels , forget it.

At this stage, concrete sleepers are the winner. Wood is history. It had to be hardwood to be reasonably termite resistant and the supply of hardwood is not what it used to be. Natural rubber composite sleepers, I don't think so. Re invent the wheel & make it square?

[RubbaJohnny]

Rubba Rail ah yes.......

Many benefits

Less wear on the passengers

Free condoms for rail rapists

Trains will bounce of buffaloes

Derailments fixed using a spoon like puncture repair

Just bouncing a few ideas of course of the thinkwank engie

Final rubber a "BRIDGE' too far?

[RubbaJohnny]

Nothing like bouncing along at 150 on a Chinese built railway, the building of hard rubber compound sleepers has some merit, flexing would be a problem unless supported properly, various systems over the years have experimented with sleeper constructions with the concrete the flavour of the month, any invention to prove up to accepted standards done properly, (unless in operation somewhere else) and if proven would take up to 10 years anyway, so nothing will happen overnight that the rubber farmers want, as for rubber rail s or wheels , forget it.

At this stage, concrete sleepers are the winner. Wood is history. It had to be hardwood to be reasonably termite resistant and the supply of . Natural rubber composite sleepers, I don't think so. Re invent the wheel & make it square?

"hardwood is not what it used to be" I blame the trees all wanting to be caddies.

A leading local institute is to belnd <deleted> with plonkers to produce a better sleeper.

These PLANKERS will be selected from solid underclass folks using a tape meausre

[HeijoshinCool]

Maybe they should build rubber rooms.

If I keep reading about all the clever ideas these guys come up with everyday, I know I'm gonna need one.

[ggold]

Perhaps they might try using rubber, to build pavements (aka sidewalks), it might put a bounce in the step of pedestrians using them !

sounds like they want to put a bit of bounce in the railway tracks!

[NeverSure]

Maybe they should build rubber rooms.

If I keep reading about all the clever ideas these guys come up with everyday, I know I'm gonna need one.

Rubber rooms. That's where they put crazy people so they can't hurt themselves. Where do you put 65 million rubber rooms?

[HeijoshinCool]

Maybe they should build rubber rooms.

If I keep reading about all the clever ideas these guys come up with everyday, I know I'm gonna need one.

Rubber rooms. That's where they put crazy people so they can't hurt themselves. Where do you put 65 million rubber rooms?

.

Some people could use a new house.

But only a few hundred are needed, for the guys in charge.

And there's always rubber bullets. The junta could place a sizable order there.

And rubber stamps, for all their schemes.

And rubber checks to pay for their schemes.

And what about rubber necking? There's a lot of that at all the accident scenes in LOS. Certainly there's a market for rubber there.

[SABloke]

I fail to see how 700kg or even 3.5 tonnes of rubber would ever be enough for 1km of road. Any civil engineers out there that could perhaps clarify?

Only a tiny amount is necessary. It's used to bind bitumen and make it more resistant to cracking.

Cheers. Thanks for the info.

[Robby nz]

Substituting rubber for cement in the mixing of concrete may just be a stretch too far.

old tires are used in many places in the world as a filler in road paving

http://www.nsf.gov/discoveries/disc_summ.jsp?cntn_id=131175

Not however as a substitute for cement in the building of a railway as is suggested in the OP.

Roads are a completely different thing and again rubber is not a substitute for cement but is used with a bitumen mix.

[Thai at Heart]

"We are planning to build dual rail tracks and we can use rubber to support the train track instead of cement,'' he said.

Please oh god, just let the Chinese build railway as they want before anyone starts thaiifying anything.

All this wishful thinking. Thailanf manufactures what foreign companied think it should manufacture. There is tyre industry already for domestic. They even make tennis balls and golf balls in Thailand because of rubber.

But, shipping tyres all over the world is uneconomic so processed rubber is their business

[rubl]

Substituting rubber for cement in the mixing of concrete may just be a stretch too far.

old tires are used in many places in the world as a filler in road paving

http://www.nsf.gov/discoveries/disc_summ.jsp?cntn_id=131175

Not however as a substitute for cement in the building of a railway as is suggested in the OP.

Roads are a completely different thing and again rubber is not a substitute for cement but is used with a bitumen mix.

The rubber used in combination with concrete seems to be crumbs from used tyres mostly, that is already processed rubber. Like recycling tyres.

http://rebar.ecn.purdue.edu/ect/links/technologies/civil/rubberizedcon.aspx

New rubber could maybe be used to make molds, for curved concrete elements and so.

Edited December 29, 2014 by rubl

[rickirs]

"Although tappers were satisfied with the government's measures to shore up the rubber price, with rib smoked sheet quoted at Bt60 per kilogram and latex at Bt37-Bt38, they urged the government not to fix the rubber price at Bt60."

Well, the Junta did fix rubber sheet prices at Bt60/kg with its sale of 400,000 tons of rubber sheet to China to be delivered in 18 months. The farmers' COST OF PRODUCTION for rubber sheet is Bt65/kg. Now the farmers have threatened to stage a mass protest after the New Year for a demand for rubber sheet price to be set at 80 baht/kg. They are far from being satisfied, even with the additional 1,000 baht/rai handouts , and the Prayuth regime is far from resisting more concessions.

Looks like PM Prayuth has become a politician!