INRO issues call for bids on European, U.S. stockpile

NEW YORK (Oct. 23)—The International Natural Rubber Organization has issued calls for bids on its stockpiled technically specified rubber and rubber smoked sheets in Europe and the U.S., according to Clifford Raisch, INRO assistant buffer stock manager in the U.S. A few days earlier, INRO made its first rubber sales from its stocks in Malaysia; the amount of rubber sold, the purchase price and the buyers´ identity were not released. Faced with a deadline of June 30, 2001, to sell the 138,000 metric tons of rubber in its buffer stock, the soon-to-be-defunct price stabilization organization voted Oct. 13 to sell the rubber to all bidders, including member nations, and not to try to recoup costs and expenses.