The Rubber Industry

Originally published in 1948, this book remains one of the most comprehensive and detailed pictures of the rubber industry. It reviews the rise of the synthetic rubber industry and deals with the competition between natural rubber and synthetic rubber. The period between 1929 and 1942 is considered in greatest detail, but where necessary for an understanding of the problems of the industry, its early history and more recent developments are also covered. Within the field of natural rubber, special attention is given to the relative and competitive positions of estates and of small-holdings, and the treatment of smallholders under rubber restriction is discussed in some detail. The work of the International Rubber Regulation Committee and the local administration of rubber restriction are analysed at length in the light of research into the records of the Committee and of various local administrative bodies, and into other official documents and Eastern newspapers.

P. T. Bauer (1915-2002) was a Hungarian-born British development economist.

1. The Structure of the Industry 2. The Impact of the Depression on Malaya and the Netherlands East Indies 3. General Review of the Rubber Slump 4. Production During the Slump 5. The Position of the Smallholdings Part 2: The Establishment of International Regulation 6. Restriction Negotiations and the International Agreement of 1934 7. The Establishment of Regulation 8. Early Difficulties, 1934-35 9. The Scheme in Prosperity and Recession, 1936-39 10. Administrative Changes and the Renewal of the Scheme 11. Rubber Regulation During the War, 1939-41 12. The Planting Provisions of Rubber Regulation 13. The Criteria of Regulation: Normal Stocks and Efficient Producers 14. Critical Retrospect Part 4: Labour and Technique 15. Plantation Labour 16. Developments in Technique Part 5: The Threat of the Monopoly of Natural Rubber 17. The Rise of Synthetic Rubber 18. Natural Rubber, 1941-45 19. Prospects and Policies 20. The Position and Prospects of the Malayan Rubber Industry Appendices: A. The Value of the Agricultural and Mining Output of Malaya, 1929 and 1932 B: Supplementary Data on the Response of Producers of Slum Prices (Ch. 3) C: The Data Underlying the Rubber-Rice Comparison (Ch. 5) D: The Economics of Planting Density E: The Reduction in Estate Cost, 1929-33 Statistical Appendices: I Rubber Production, Prices and Acreages in Malaya and the Netherlands East Indies, 1929-33 II: The Statistics of Rubber Regulation, 1934-41 III: Malayan Migration and Employment Statistics, 1926-40