By LAWI WENG
The global financial crisis has hit Burmese migrants working on rubber plantations, with concerns that a reduced US demand for tires severely affecting rubber prices in Thailand.
Rubber is currently selling at 52 baht a kilo, falling from 98 baht a kilo within two weeks, according to rubber plantation owners in Ranong Province in southern Thailand.
Win Kyaw, a Burmese migrant worker at a rubber plantation in southern Thailand, told The Irrawaddy on Monday that his wages have gone down from 1,800 baht (US $52) a day to just 1,000 baht ($29) a day.
“Usually I can send money to my family during the dry season, but now I can’t,” he said.
Surat Pansuwannakee, a logistics officer at rubber exporters Sri Trang Agro-Industry, said Thailand’s rubber companies have been hit by the global financial crisis and many shipments have been cancelled or delayed.
Thailand is the world’s largest manufacturer and exporter of rubber, with an average of 200,000 tons exported monthly, mainly to China, Japan and the US.
Burmese rubber plantation workers usually transfer a large percentage of their wages back to their families in Burma using the informal “hundi” money transfer agencies.
However, according to one “hundi” agent in Mon State, he has transferred only 2 million kyat ($1,650) in the last two weeks, compared to a usual figure of 20 million kyat ($16,500) every month.
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