Japan tyre-makers seek new rubber supplies

Tokyo

FED up with rubber prices languishing at seven-year lows, Sunny Joseph, a farmer in India's southern state of Kerala, has uprooted his 0.8 hectare rubber plantation to make way for a more lucrative crop.

A similar trend among growers in South-east Asia is alarming Japanese tyre makers and spurring them to seek new sources of supply away from traditional producers, amid fears that today's glut could turn to a shortage. Tyre makers in Japan and the US have even been looking at extracting rubber from alternatives sources such as guayule, a desert shrub.