Rubber industry has prospects for growth

Plantation Industries and Commodities Minister Datuk Seri Mah Siew Keong (2 nd rightt) accompanied by Kossan Rubber Industries Bhd managing director and CEO Datuk Lim Kuang Sia (3 rd right) and Or Tan Teng Managing Director of Doshin Rubber (right) visiting the production line of the Rubber Componnd during his visit at f Doshin Rubber Production (M) sdn bhd in Klang.

KLANG: Malaysia’s rubber industry is not a sunset industry following demand for high-value engineering rubber products from many countries, says Minister of Plantation Industries and Commodities, Datuk Seri Mah Siew Keong. 

He said Malaysia had the ability to produce high-value engineering rubber products used specially in the field of vibration and earthquake engineering. 

Mah said Malaysian manufacturers had installed and supplied rubber seismic bearings to high-seismic activity countries like New Zealand, Iran, Indonesia, Turkey and China.

“Our rubber products are of world standard, so the rubber industry is definitely not a sunset industry,” he told reporters after visiting the Doshin Rubber Products (M) Sdn Bhd factory in Klang on Monday.

Mah said rubber downstream products in Malaysia would be part of the 2050 National Transformation efforts towards producing high-technology and high value-added products.

He also lauded Doshin, one of Malaysia’s largest manufacturers of rubber products for engineering purposes, for not only producing structural bearings, but also being a major player in earthquake protection and vibration insulation industry. 

Mah said the export of structural bearings, categorised as technical products in the general and industrial rubber goods sector, recorded significant improvement in recent years. 

He said Malaysia’s export of structural bearings rose by 36.2% to  RM14.14mil in 2016 from RM10.38mil in 2015. - Bernama