Malaysia stock market and companies daily report (December 29, 2011)
18.05.12
RM275m Slated For Replanting And Planting Of New Rubber Trees Under NKEA
Under the National Key Economic Area (NKEA), the Malaysian Rubber Board (MRB) expects some RM275 million to be slated for commodities investment, which mainly involves replanting and new planting of new rubber trees nationwide. Director-general of MRB Datuk Dr Salmiah Ahmad suggested that in 2012, active-replanting activities would cover 38,000ha in Peninsular Malaysia while new planting will cover about 5,000ha each in Sarawak and Sabah. As stated in the rubber NKEA, the rubber industry is expected to contribute RM90 billion in gross national income by 2020. While the target appears far, the rubber industry had in the first ten months of this year contributed RM38 billion in export earnings, reflecting a surge of 12% from RM33.8 billion in 2010.
Significance: Driven by increasing exports of raw materials and rubber products, the rubber NKEA initiative is likely to be beneficial to the Malaysian economy as it ramps up production in nurseries.
Source: Stock Markets Review