MONROVIA, LIBERIA – The Rubber Planters Affiliation and the Authorities of Liberia have taken decisive steps to place an finish to unfair rubber pricing.
By Claudius T. Greene, Jr.
“No extra unfair rubber costs,” declared T. Bannie Brown, Vice President of the Rubber Planters Affiliation of Liberia (RPAL), as he learn a landmark decision ushering in a brand new period of transparency and equity for Liberia’s long-struggling rubber farmers.
Talking on behalf of the Liberia Nationwide Rubber Pricing Committee (LNRPC) at a press convention held Thursday, June 5, Brown formally introduced the adoption of a government-sanctioned month-to-month pricing formulation designed to guard farmers from being exploited by processors and middlemen.
For years, Liberia’s rubber sector—as soon as a cornerstone of the nationwide financial system—has been tormented by disputes over pricing. Farmers have persistently accused consumers of arbitrarily setting costs under worldwide market charges, resulting in deep distrust and a weakening of the trade’s viability.
In response, President Joseph Nyuma Boakai, in October 2024, established the Liberia Nationwide Rubber Pricing Committee to handle the problem. The committee contains representatives from the Ministries of Agriculture, Finance and Growth Planning, Commerce and Trade, and Justice, in addition to the Nationwide Funding Fee, RPAL, the Rubber Growth Fund Included (RDFI), and main processors together with Firestone Liberia.
After months of technical deliberations, the committee agreed to a standardized formulation for figuring out month-to-month rubber costs. In keeping with the decision, the official worth relies on the common every day worth of a ton of rubber posted on the Singapore Commodity Trade (SICOM) through the earlier month. The value is then adjusted for Liberia’s common 58% Dry Rubber Content material (DRC). From this quantity, deductions are made for manufacturing prices and a ten% processor revenue margin, together with statutory levies—together with 4% shared among the many Authorities of Liberia, RDFI, and RPAL—ensuing within the closing web worth payable to farmers at manufacturing facility gates.
For the month of June 2025, the web worth per ton of rubber delivered on the manufacturing facility gate is ready at US$545.00, with a gross worth of US$574.06 earlier than deductions. In keeping with the decision, any purchaser providing lower than the official worth dangers prosecution.
“This resolution is a serious victory for our farmers,” mentioned Brown. “They’ve lengthy suffered below exploitative pricing practices. In the present day marks the start of a system that’s truthful, clear, and inclusive.”
To make sure ongoing compliance, the LNRPC will convene month-to-month to find out and publicly announce the worth for the upcoming month. The official worth notices shall be broadly disseminated and visibly posted in any respect rubber buying areas throughout the nation.
The committee can be urging President Boakai to subject an Government Order imposing a surcharge on the export of unprocessed rubber, to encourage home worth addition and defend native processors.
“This mechanism isn’t nearly numbers,” Brown emphasised. “It’s about restoring belief and rebalancing your entire rubber worth chain.”
Trade stakeholders hailed the brand new pricing formulation as a crucial step towards revitalizing the sector. The reform, they mentioned, will guarantee dignity for farmers and sustainability for processors, whereas laying the inspiration for long-term progress and rural growth.
The decision establishing the pricing formulation stays in full impact until formally revoked.
With hundreds of Liberians relying on the rubber sector for his or her livelihoods, the federal government and its companions hope that this daring new method will chart a path towards fairness, empowerment, and renewed prosperity for one of many nation’s most significant industries.
