RUBBER PRODUCERS, CONSUMERS START NEW PACT TALKS
The chairman of the conference on a new
International Natural Rubber Agreement (INRA), Manaspas Xuto of
Thailand, said it was imperative to try to settle the main
outstanding issues this week.
    The INRA renegotiation conference, which resumed today
under the auspices of the United Nations Conference on Trade
and Development (UNCTAD), is scheduled to last until March 20.
    Xuto told delegates this session of the conference
presented a promising opportunity to conclude a new pact but it
had to be the last before the current accord expires in
October.
    Xuto said in his consultations with representatives of
major exporting and importing countries over the last few
months, "I have found a constructive attitude and willingness to
be flexible on the part of all concerned."
    "It is imperative that we try to settle the major
outstanding issues in the course of this week, since a
considerable amount of technical drafting work will remain to
be completed." He said he will immediately start consultations
with producers and consumers.
    The last October negotiations collapsed in disagreement
over buffer stock operations.
    Consumer demands for tighter buffer stock controls, aimed
at preventing INRA from following the collapse of the
International Tin Agreement (ITA), were rejected by producers
who argued for unchanged INRA terms.
    The tin pact failed when its buffer stock manager ran out
of funds to support prices.
    Three previous rounds of talks between rubber producers and
consumers for a new five-year pact ended without agreement. The
INRA, originally due to expire in October 1985, was extended to
October 1987 to facilitate renegotiation.
    Wong Kum Choon, head of the Malaysian delegation, said he
was cautiously optimistic "that together we should be able to
save INRA and prevent it from being scuttled."
    Without INRA, he added, prices of natural rubber would
become more volatile.
    Calling on delegates to show a sense of purpose and
reality, he said, "There is no reason why we could not put aside
differences and come up with a successor agreement."
 Reuter
