RUBBER LEAF DISEASE SEEN AFFECTING SUPPLY/PRICES

  The leaf disease corenes pora,
  which has affected some rubber trees in Sri Lanka and
  Indonesia, is likely to force a cut in supply and push up
  depressed prices, a Malaysian rubber disease researcher said.
      Trees with leaves hit by the fungus disease cannot be saved
  and must be felled, Chee Kheng Hoy, Head of the Crop Protection
  and Microbiology Division in the Rubber Research Institute of
  Malaysia (RRIM), told Reuters.
      He was commenting on a Reuter report which said corenes
  pora had hit seven pct of Sri Lanka's plantations and may cause
  output to drop below its 1987 target of 143,000 tonnes.
      The report said the Sri Lankan Rubber Research Institute
  may ask estates to remove trees seriously affected by the
  disease and added that most estates affected belong to the
  State Plantations Corp and Janatha Estates Development Board.
      Chee said corenes pora is an old disease which only affects
  certain rubber clones in Sri Lanka and Indonesia and that
  further use of such clones must be discontinued.
      Clones not resistant to the disease are the Rubber Research
  Institute of Sri Lanka clone 103, Indonesia's PPN 2058, 2444,
  2447 and PR 265 and Malaysia's RRIM 725, he said.
      Chee said corenes pora affected trees from the RRIM 725
  clone planted in Malaysia several years ago but had been curbed
  after use of such clones were discontinued.
      Fungicide may be used to curb the disease, which also
  affects leaves of 30 other species of plants, but experience
  has proven that it is uneconomical and expensive, he added.
      "The disease is extremely difficult to control. If it is not
  curbed in the two affected countries their rubber output may
  drop and prices can rise," he said.
      He added that the RRIM was aware of the disease outbreak in
  Sri Lanka and was monitoring the situation.
  

