Rubber maker STA plans Bt2 bn upgrade to boost production

“The company is the only one in the global natural rubber industry that covers the rubber business from upstream to downstream,” Veerasith Sinchareonkul, a director of STA, said yesterday.
“Last year, we grew 33 per cent [in sales volume], against the global natural rubber market expansion of only 3 per cent, or with a global demand for natural rubber of 12.5 million tonnes.”
The company has begun setting up a rubber plant in the Northeast with a capacity of 7,200 tonnes per month.
 It is also expanding its existing plant in Indonesia by 5,000 tonnes a month.

Global demand growing 
Global rubber demand has grown 3 per cent annually, Veerasith said.
The company has targeted sales of between 1.3 million tonnes|and 1.7 million tonnes this year, up from about 1.5 million tonnes last year. 
Last year it commanded a global market share of 12 per cent, thanks to rising demand worldwide.
As a five-year goal, the company aims to raise its global market share to 20 per cent. 
The company will also focus more on research and development to serve the specific demands of customers.
STA’s operation spans rubber plantations and rubber processing for items such as medical examination gloves. 
The company’s 35 plants are in Thailand, Indonesia and Myanmar. Together, they have production capacity of 2.4 million tonnes a year.
In the downstream business, its subsidiary Sri Trang Gloves (Thailand) Co is Thailand’s largest and the world’s top five maker of medical gloves. 
STA is the only Thai rubber company with dual listings – on the Stock Exchange of Thailand and the Singapore Exchange.