Thread: Rubber trees 101

Sold cup at auction yesterday, 20.10 baht per kg.

Sold cup at auction Thursday, 19.75 baht per kg.
Back to a 55/45 split.
Two more sales, then our season is over.

Sold cup at auction yesterday, 20.85 baht per kg.
Back to a 60/40 split.

What happened to Collister? Used to be a regular on this thread......

I was wondering that. If I recall he and family went back to Aus.
This is one of my favourite threads.
Enjoyed his, Guzzis et all posts.

Originally Posted by Davis Knowlton

What happened to Collister? Used to be a regular on this thread......

Jim is still about in the jungles of Isaan, he will pop up again I am sure.

Sold cup at auction yesterday, 20.93 baht per kg.
Last sale of the season, open the trees again early - mid April.

As long as they keep finding better ways to process used tires which is happening all the time the price for raw latex/rubber is unlikely to improve
I remember reading a few years ago about a new way of processing used tires with microwaves that brought the return up from $1 to $3 per tire, at that time they were still developing the machines, they have them for sale now

I agree with your assessment of farming in Thailand. I've seen a lot of Ferangs spend huge sums of money on farming; with little or no profit. It's not only Thailand. There is little money to be made in farming almost anywhere in the entire world. I grew up on a large Canadian Farm c/w 130 milk cows, 250 dry cows, 500 beef, 70,000 laying chickens, 500 sheep, 1200 hogs & a 30,000 litre/day Dairy Plant. We turned over a lot of money; but none of the 4 partners ever got rich. It was more that we ate well & paid our debts. Eventually it all went broke after the 2nd generation took over. I never was a fan of farming. Too hard of work.

A friend has expended near $1 Million USD, in various farm enterprises in Issan. None were very successful. Like you say; had my friend invested his Oil Refinery Income in solid International Stocks & Bonds over 25 years; he would be sitting pretty right now.

Originally Posted by cdnski12

I agree with your assessment of farming in Thailand. I've seen a lot of Ferangs spend huge sums of money on farming; with little or no profit. It's not only Thailand. There is little money to be made in farming almost anywhere in the entire world. I grew up on a large Canadian Farm c/w 130 milk cows, 250 dry cows, 500 beef, 70,000 laying chickens, 500 sheep, 1200 hogs & a 30,000 litre/day Dairy Plant. We turned over a lot of money; but none of the 4 partners ever got rich. It was more that we ate well & paid our debts. Eventually it all went broke after the 2nd generation took over. I never was a fan of farming. Too hard of work.

A friend has expended near $1 Million USD, in various farm enterprises in Issan. None were very successful. Like you say; had my friend invested his Oil Refinery Income in solid International Stocks & Bonds over 25 years; he would be sitting pretty right now.

Same in western Australia, the wheat and sheep farms in the 1950's were between 1000 to 3000 acres, as they became uneconomical to operate they were bought up by people who wanted to make their farms bigger and profit making
A lot of farms are now 15000 acres or bigger with fewer employees and larger machinery to operate them, a lot of small wheat belt towns are now battling to exist because there is no population to use their goods and services
I remember many years ago one of these towns called Bruce Rock offering free blocks of land to encourage people to go and live there so their would be enough local residents so businesses there could survive

First 2 cup sales of the new season at auction;
24 April 22.11 baht per kg
8 May 25.03 baht per kg.
Last auction had 15 bidders, so obviously money still to be made in the business...

I remember visiting the then girlfriends 50 rai plantation in January 2010. There used to be a premium on sheet rubber back then, about 120Bt per kilo.
The workers would cut and keep 50% of the sale price.
No Guestworkers there now (Suratthani)
Since then a third of the plantation has matured and been clear felled. Some tried diversifying into palm oil, but Indonesia made sure that price went through the floor too.
Afew still try cash crops like corn on the cob, Avacado or whatever the fashion is, bananas etc.
Very poor returns these days.

Sold cup at auction yesterday, 25.61 baht per kg.

Originally Posted by thaiguzzi

Sold cup at auction yesterday, 25.61 baht per kg.

You and I have made it through another season, as of Monday next week, all my outstanding bills will be cleared, mostly factory taxes.

Prices up so good times ahead, taking the wife and kids away to a nice resort Friday week, eat, drink and be merry.

Better than working , 9 to 5.

Originally Posted by jamescollister

Prices up so good times ahead, taking the wife and kids away to a nice resort Friday week, eat, drink and be merry.

Better than working , 9 to 5.

Enjoy

Rubber is bound to go Boing

Sold cup at auction yesterday, 24.77 baht per kg.

Sold cup at auction yesterday, 22.53 baht per kg.

Sold cup at auction yesterday, 22.36 baht per kg.
11 bidders, next bid was 22.35... Obviously still money to be made in the game.

Originally Posted by thaiguzzi

Sold cup at auction yesterday, 22.36 baht per kg.
11 bidders, next bid was 22.35... Obviously still money to be made in the game.

Not understanding the prices, read a report from the rubber, alleged experts, think it was Bloomberg.
2018 will show an under supply of rubber of 150,000 tons, but prices are flat, guessing that China has a lot of tyres and stored rubber, US and I think the EU has put import taxes on Chinese tyres.
So China is sitting it out on it's reserve supplies, India, second biggest tyre maker is upping it's imports, price will go up, but with my luck, prices will climb when my tree go dormant.

Originally Posted by jamescollister

prices will climb when my tree go dormant

The perils of farmers worldwide James. A risky business.

Originally Posted by Norton

The perils of farmers worldwide James. A risky business.

I'm good, even at the low prices, cost of living here is not high, biggest cost would be beer.

Have a nice big SUV, big enough house, get to go away, family weekends every month, but with better prices the world would change.

Some years ago I produced ribbed smoked sheet at about $5 US a kilo, now 50/60 cents a kilo for cup, factory was buying more rubber every day.

If things hadn't gone south, would have hit $10,000US profit a week in a short time, but the gods choose a different path and probably right.
If I had loads of money, would have been out playing around, not only in Thailand, kids would have become the Paris Hilton's of Issan, wife would have divorce me.

So I am still here in the village with the wife and kids, better than working, but would like so more income.

Originally Posted by jamescollister

I produced ribbed smoked sheet

Are you able to store that? If so would you not be able to buy up the fresh cup now, process it and sell RSS later?

Originally Posted by OhOh

Are you able to store that? If so would you not be able to buy up the fresh cup now, process it and sell RSS later?

RSS is made from liquid latex, not cup, the cost of production of RSS means the tappers, both mine and others who would sell to me don't make enough to warrant the extra work.

Cup is just tap and leave, liquid is tap, wait and then collect the latex in barrels, then deliver to a pick up point, after that I need to process it into sheet, long process.

No real money for anyone, but lots of extra work.

Thanks.

Sold cup at auction on Tuesday, 22.78 baht per kg.