AFP, Bangkok :
They work in the pre-dawn gloom tapping trees for the “white gold” that has made their country the world’s top rubber producer – but as prices plunge due to the US-China trade war, Thai farmers are giving up the sap.
Thai latex makes everything from tyres and condoms to baby pacifiers and surgical gloves, the fruit of the rubber trees cultivated across endless acres of the country.
But the rubber trade is at a crossroads as a bitter dispute between the world’s two biggest economies ricochets across Southeast Asia with unexpected consequences.
They work in the pre-dawn gloom tapping trees for the “white gold” that has made their country the world’s top rubber producer – but as prices plunge due to the US-China trade war, Thai farmers are giving up the sap.
Thai latex makes everything from tyres and condoms to baby pacifiers and surgical gloves, the fruit of the rubber trees cultivated across endless acres of the country.
But the rubber trade is at a crossroads as a bitter dispute between the world’s two biggest economies ricochets across Southeast Asia with unexpected consequences.
