Yokohama Rubber‘s agreement with RAOT is the latest concrete action based on the company’s ‘Procurement Policy for Sustainable Natural Rubber’.
Yokohama Rubber Aims to Strengthen Natural Rubber Supply Chain
The Yokohama Rubber Co., Ltd has recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Rubber Authority of Thailand (RAOT) to strengthen the natural rubber supply chain.
This agreement would provide economic support for Thai natural rubber farmers and to improve traceability to ensure transparency and soundness of the supply chain. The agreement with RAOT is the latest concrete action based on the company’s ‘Procurement Policy for Sustainable Natural Rubber’. It is a follow-up to a survey on Thai natural rubber plantations in Surat Thani conducted by Yokohama Rubber’s local natural rubber processing subsidiary, Y.T. Rubber Co., Ltd (YTRC), since June last year.
YTRC has thus far interviewed about 70 natural rubber farmers and plans to continue the survey with the goal of surveying 500 farmers by the end of 2021. Yokohama Rubber plans to use the survey results to analyse the issues facing natural rubber plantations to better enable the company to contribute to sustainable operations of natural rubber farmers and to improve traceability. Alongside, the Yokohama Group has been conducting joint research on natural rubber with universities since 2013.
In recent years, the demand for tyres and consequently natural rubber—the core raw material used in tyre production—has been expanding steadily as the world’s population grows and mobility technologies become more advanced. However, this growth in demand has led to growing concerns about a host of problems, including unlawful deforestation, land exploitation, human rights violations, and adverse effects on biodiversity, in countries and regions where natural rubber is produced.
To help resolve these problems, Yokohama Rubber is participating in the Sustainable Natural Rubber Initiative (SNR-i), and is also a founding member of the Global Platform for Sustainable Natural Rubber (GPSNR) launched in October 2018.
