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EU deforestation regulation may put RI rubber industry in jeopardy
Indonesian rubber producers fear that the European Union’s Deforestation Regulation will pile more pressure on an already ailing industry by hindering exports to EU countries and beyond.
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A worker collects raw latex from a rubber tree at a plantation in Pahang, outside Kuala Lumpur on Jan.12, 2016. (AFP/Mohd Rafsan)
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ndonesian rubber producers fear that the European Union’s Deforestation Regulation [EUDR] will pile more pressure on an already ailing industry by hindering exports to EU countries and beyond.
Southeast Asia’s largest economy exported 2.08 million tonnes of rubber worth US$3.66 billion in 2022, Statistics Indonesia (BPS) data show, with exports to EU countries recorded at 300,000 tonnes, or around 14 percent of the total.
Erwin Tunas, the executive director of the Indonesian Rubber Association (Gapkindo), estimated the rule would take a toll of roughly $527 million on export values should the domestic rubber supply chain, including smallholder farmers and rubber product manufacturers, prove unable to meet the EUDR requirements.
“Around 300,000 tonnes [of rubber] are exported to the EU, to almost 27 countries. This will be hindered if we [producers] are unable to provide geolocation coordinates as required,” Erwin told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday.
Read also: Shrinking domestic industry threatens RI rubber exports
Erwin is concerned that other countries exporting finished rubber products like tires to EU member states will also approach Indonesian producers to request geolocation documentation.
The geolocation requirement is equivalent to Indonesia’s plantation cultivation permit (STDB), which must be obtained through registration with the Agriculture Ministry’s Plantations Directorate General.
