RUBBER PRODUCERS, CONSUMERS START NEW PACT TALKS

  The chairman of the conference on a new
  International Natural Rubber Agreement (INRA), Manaspas Xuto of
  Thailand, said it was imperative to try to settle the main
  outstanding issues this week.
      The INRA renegotiation conference, which resumed today
  under the auspices of the United Nations Conference on Trade
  and Development (UNCTAD), is scheduled to last until March 20.
      Xuto told delegates this session of the conference
  presented a promising opportunity to conclude a new pact but it
  had to be the last before the current accord expires in
  October.
      Xuto said in his consultations with representatives of
  major exporting and importing countries over the last few
  months, "I have found a constructive attitude and willingness to
  be flexible on the part of all concerned."
      "It is imperative that we try to settle the major
  outstanding issues in the course of this week, since a
  considerable amount of technical drafting work will remain to
  be completed." He said he will immediately start consultations
  with producers and consumers.
      The last October negotiations collapsed in disagreement
  over buffer stock operations.
      Consumer demands for tighter buffer stock controls, aimed
  at preventing INRA from following the collapse of the
  International Tin Agreement (ITA), were rejected by producers
  who argued for unchanged INRA terms.
      The tin pact failed when its buffer stock manager ran out
  of funds to support prices.
      Three previous rounds of talks between rubber producers and
  consumers for a new five-year pact ended without agreement. The
  INRA, originally due to expire in October 1985, was extended to
  October 1987 to facilitate renegotiation.
      Wong Kum Choon, head of the Malaysian delegation, said he
  was cautiously optimistic "that together we should be able to
  save INRA and prevent it from being scuttled."
      Without INRA, he added, prices of natural rubber would
  become more volatile.
      Calling on delegates to show a sense of purpose and
  reality, he said, "There is no reason why we could not put aside
  differences and come up with a successor agreement."
  

