Shoring up rubber prices
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Transport Minister Chadchart Sittipunt on Friday inspected the road pavement of Don Muang Tollway.
The expressway is being paved with materials containing 5 per cent of para rubber. Mixing para rubber with the pavement materials has been one of solutions that the government hopes to boost the rubber demand and its prices.
Rubber growers in Nakhon Si Thammarat still denounced the government for its failure in shoring up rubber prices.
Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra on Friday proposed a dialogue with the farmers. She promised assistance in the short and long term.
"I'm begging here, as people in Nakhon Si Thammarat suffer (from the protest). We need to help each other and a discussion should be a good solution," she said.
She also insisted that the government has tried its best in shoring up rubber prices. There was a discussion with Malaysia, a key supplier, for instance. Thailand also urged China to buy more agricultural products from Thailand, which include rubber. Yingluck noted that the issue is delicate, as rubber - like other products - is subject to market mechanism.
