Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha vowed Thursday to stand firm against growing pressure from rubber growers demanding government intervention to stem falling rubber prices as farmers threatened a protest on Tuesday.
He warned farmers to brace for legal consequences if they stage a protest. He vowed they would not get the state subsidy they are demanding. The government is implementing measures to deal with the depressed rubber prices, which touched new lows recently, he said.
"The government is building up a rubber city, a new rubber sheet making factory, to increase the use of rubber in road construction and pool lining. But can this happen overnight?" he said.
"What amounts of subsidies did rubber growers receive before? Where did the money come from to inject 150 billion baht to make prices go up by 30 baht a kilogramme?
"That money came from taxpayers. So, should it be used to help one particular group again?" he said, referring to the 150-billion baht subsidy spent to inflate the rubber prices during the previous Yingluck Shinawatra administration.
He insisted his government's policy to provide initial aid of 1,500 baht per rai of rubber growing areas was a better way to sustain the rubber farming industry, while encouraging willing farmers to look for alternative professions.
The average price of latex fell to 26.65 baht/kg while the average rubber sheet price hit a new low at 31.5 baht/kg as of 3pm Thursday.
Rubber grower groups in the South threatened to stage a protest. Phairot Roekdi, leader of a rubber farmer group in Surat Thani's Wiang Sa district, said farmers wanted to highlight their grievances.
Kittisak Wiroj, president of an association for rubber and oil palm growers in Surat Thani, said the association would gather outside the Rubber Authority of Thailand's branch in Trang province on Tuesday.
The office of the central rubber market in Songkhla province, meanwhile, released a report outlining factors which attributed to the price slump.
These include international investors' concerns over the Chinese economy, falling oil prices and an oversupply of rubber products.