The prospects of the rubber industry in the Philippines
Date
1966-05
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Abstract
While rubber growing in the Philippines started in 1906, production of natural rubber began only in 1915. On the other hand, the birth of Philippine rubber manufacturing was simultaneous with the entry of rubber shoe manufacturing into Philippine manufacturing industry in 1933. More than half of natural rubber production was exported during the early years because the domestic manufacturing industries were incapable of absorbing all of it. However, the situation was reversed with the establishment of Goodyear and Goodrich tire companies in 1956 and of Firestone in 1957. The supply of natural rubber produced locally has lagged far behind the domestic consumption requirements of natural rubber since 1956, and the deficiency has been steadily rising ever since. The Philippines, as a result, changed her position from an exporter to that of an importer of natural rubber. Consequently, the amount of imports of crude rubber has continually risen due to increasing home consumption requirements.
This thesis endeavors to examine whether or not the Philippine natural rubber and rubber manufacturing industries have bright prospects for expansion, especially, the possibility of natural rubber industry to augment its production to the extent of not only substituting for the rising importation of crude rubber to meet the increasing demand of domestic rubber manufactures, but also
exporting natural rubber, thereby earning foreign exchange which is essential in accelerating the pace of Philippine economic development.
This study also hopes to enrich the literature concerning economic analysis of the Philippine industry - both natural rubber and rubber manufacturing industries - by collecting and analyzing all available information relevant to Philippine rubber industry with the use of books, articles, government
and private publications and reports, as well as personal interviews. Up to the present time, there is a dearth in the literature dealing with economic analysis of the Philippine rubber industry. This situation has made the evaluation of its development, economic contributions, problems, and future prospects extremely difficult, if not at all impossible.
Findings show that the Philippine rubber industry, both natural rubber and rubber manufacturing industries, has bright prospects for future expansion. Nevertheless, the former has brighter prospects for expansion than the latter. The Philippine natural rubber industry can successfully compete with the world natural rubber industry. As a consequence, it can increase natural rubber production in excess of home consumption requirements, and export the surplus to earn foreign exchange which is vital to Philippine economic development. On the other hand, the increase of production of Philippine rubber manufactures depends on the extent to which the domestic market can expand inasmuch as large-scale export of Philippine rubber manufactures is yet impossible on account of keen competition abroad. The result of the study also shows that Philippine natural rubber and rubber manufacturing industries have immensely contributed to the growth and stability of the Philippine economy from the
standpoint of employment, capital information, foreign exchange, development of allied industries and product diversification.
In addition, the study accomplished the difficult and laborious task of gathering all the pertinent information and data regarding Philippine rubber industry so that a clearer picture of the growth and development of the Philippine rubber industry can be supplied to interested readers and to impart to them a better insight of the Philippine rubber industry.
Since both domestic natural rubber and rubber manufacturing industries, particularly the former, have bright prospects for future expansion, and the fact that these industries have been contributing significantly to Philippine economic development and industrialization, the Philippine government should adopt imperative measures to stimulate their growth and development in pursuance of its policy to accelerate the pace of Philippine economic development.
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Keywords
Rubber industry