Thailand: The World‘s Leading Exporter of Natural Rubber Owing to its Smallholders

Thailand is currently the world‘s leading exporter of natural rubber, accounting for 33% of the annual volume traded. In addition to its quantitative performance, the case of Thailand is noteworthy in that this output is driven by smallholders, who own 95% of the total area planted with rubber trees, and that much of the processing is done by small farmers‘ cooperatives. At the time of writing, nearly 10% of the Thai population makes its livelihood from the production, trade and processing of natural rubber. This working paper analyses the remarkable development of smallholder rubber farming in Thailand.