Some raw rubber being conveyed from a farm
The Rubber Cupslumps Traders and Aggregators Association of Ghana (RUCTAAG) has criticised the local rubber processing factories for their alleged unwillingness to offer reasonable price for the raw product.
RUCTAAG members serve as middlemen who purchase the raw rubber directly from the farmers and sell them as raw materials to the processing factories in the country.
Aside that, the members stimulate production by supporting rubber farmers with requisite inputs, tappers and provide transportation from the farm gates to the buying centres at their own cost.
They, are therefore, unhappy that the local processing factories have decided not to purchase the raw rubber from the traders at what they termed as fair price.
According to them, the traders and aggregators buy the raw rubber from the farmers at a cost of GH¢6,700 per tonne and expected that the factories will also buy from them at a higher price because of transportation and other costs.
However, speaking to DAILY GUIDE the President of RUCTAAG, Bismark Yilaku Essuman, noted that the local factories insist they will not pay anything higher than the farm price of GH¢6,700 per tonne.
He revealed that most of the rubber processing factories are without their own Plantation. He said even those who have plantations, their raw products cannot meet one third of their factories’ capacity.
“So most of the factories depend on the supply from the traders and aggregators,” he pointed out.
He noted that because of the transportation and other costs incurred by RUCTAAG members before the raw rubber reaches the local processors, they expected the factories to buy from the traders at a price of GH¢8,000 or GH¢9000 per tonne of raw rubber.
“But unfortunately, the factories have decided not to pay that fair price. So the traders now prefer exporting the products rather than supplying to local processors”, he noted.
“This because rubber trading business among local processors is unprofitable and hence, no business can operate under that circumstance”, he noted.
He said another challenge faced by rubber traders is the delay in payment by some of the processing factories when supply is made to them.
“So it is not true that the traders are only interested in exporting the raw product as some of the factories have asserted. But it is because the local processors have turned deaf ears to the traders’ genuine concerns”, he stressed.
He said but for the support from the traders which include supply of inputs, most of the rubber farmers would have cut down their rubber trees for illegal mining or galamsey activities.
“It is therefore refreshing to note that the Tree Crop Development Authority (TCDA) is taking steps to license and regulate the rubber industry to protect all actors including farmers and the traders”, he added.
From Emmanuel Opoku, Takoradi