The latex tapping season has begun, but rubber growers are worried because the latex price is at its lowest level ever, only 22 million VND/ton, compared to the end of the previous season, the price of rubber latex has dropped from 4 - 8 prices/ton (equivalent to 4 - 8 million VND/ton).
Mr. Trinh Thanh in Mang To commune, Tanh Linh has been wondering for the past few days, half wanting to open the "mouth" of the rubber tree to collect latex, half wanting to let the tree rest for a while longer and only fertilize sparingly because the latex price is too low. He said: "The latex price is low, so people in the area are worried, everyone is waiting for the price to go up a bit to open the "mouth" of the rubber tree to collect latex, to have some spending for the family, but this situation seems very difficult...".
In Tanh Linh, Gia Huynh area, Suoi Kiet is considered the rubber "capital" of Binh Thuan . There are businesses here that grow hundreds of hectares of rubber, with well-off households doing a few dozen hectares, while the majority of people do 1-7 hectares which is normal. For units that do large areas, they have to hire workers to manage, tap latex, and take care of the garden, so often when the latex price is low, the garden owner will not tap because tapping will lose money on hiring workers. On the contrary, they only fertilize sparingly to nourish the trees and wait for the rubber price to rise to a certain level, then they will open their "mouths" to collect latex. Mr. Binh in Duc Linh has more than 50 hectares of rubber in Gia Huynh commune that are ripe for latex collection. This year, he has not opened his "mouths" to collect latex, but he still fertilizes to keep the rubber trees "healthy", waiting for the price to increase to exploit. He said: A few years ago, we “lost our money” when the price of latex at the beginning of the season was only 22-23 million VND/ton. Not only me, but many other households abandoned their gardens without taking care of them. When the price of latex suddenly increased to 30 million VND/ton, then 35 million VND/ton and peaked at 39 million VND/ton, so people who abandoned their gardens did not have time to fertilize and tap the latex. Learning from that experience, in the past 3 years, although the price at the beginning of the season was low, gardeners did not tap but still fertilized sparingly so that when the price increased, they could exploit it in time...
The whole province currently has about 45,000 hectares of rubber, of which nearly 2/3 of the area is for harvesting, with an average latex yield of 14-15 quintals/ha, and in some places with good soil and proper care, the yield is 18 quintals/ha. In Tanh Linh alone, the rubber area accounts for half of the province's rubber area. Most rubber growers believe that with a rubber price of 24 million VND/ton, tapping latex will not be profitable. Therefore, rubber gardens do not open their "mouths" to wait for the price. Farmers jokingly call these gardens to nurture the trees, but in reality, gardeners "feel sorry for their money" because they have poured a lot of capital into investing in rubber trees, but when it comes to harvesting, it still does not yield any profit, on the contrary, they lose money, so they have to wait for the market...
The weather has completely turned to the rainy season, at this time in previous years, every household would have opened their rubber “mouths” to catch the first drops of “white gold” of the season to have money to take care of their families. However, the five years of low early season latex prices have made many rubber growers worried, hoping that in the coming time, the price of latex will increase so that rubber growers can have a good income…
Source
Comment (0)