BANGKOK—Thailand-based Sri Trang Agro-Industry P.L.C. has introduced an initiative designed to meet new international traceability requirements for natural rubber used in tires.
Called "Grade Tires" or "GPS Tires," the development is preparing for the European Union's deforestation-free products law, the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR), which is due to come into force by yearend, Sri Trang said in a March 8 statement.
According to Sri Trang, "GPS-enabled" NR grades will "create a new dimension towards sustainability" and increase the competitiveness of the Thai rubber industry.
The scheme is said to leverage a range of technologies employed within the group, including "Sri Trang Friends" applications, "super driver service," and a "smart factory system" for digital tire purchasing.
These capabilities are connected into an "ecosystem including rubber farmers, rubber traders, rubber transporters, communities, trading partners, and (others) involved in the rubber industry," the company said.
Rubber with geolocation responds to "measures or laws from around the world that require traceability of the source of NR," said Veerasit Sincharoenkul, president and executive director of Sri Trang Agro-Industry.
The Thai group, he added, is "ready to support the enforcement of EUDR" by verifying the source of NR to ensure it is not from deforested areas or encroachments into reserved forests.
Offering 100-percent traceability, GPS rubber grades will create a "trade advantage" for Thailand as well as "opportunity for increased rubber prices," Sri Trang said.
According to Paphawee Srisutthiphong, STA business development and partnership manager, GPS rubber can come in various shapes of cup lump rubber, fresh latex and rubber sheets. The GPS scheme, she said, will enable the market to identify or trace back the source of NR to "which and whose plantation it belongs to."
This year, the group aims to increase the number of GPS rubber farmers and traders to 100,000 and expand the project to 220,000 growers by the end of 2025, she added.
Also addressing the online launch, Nakorn Takwiraphat, governor of the Rubber Authority of Thailand (RAOT), said the GPS coordinated rubber initiative would help "create cooperation in developing the Thai rubber industry in all sectors."
