International Rubber Regulation Agreement 3904119 209066725 2008-04-29T19:45:52Z Chowbok 54304 clean up, Replaced: 1941-1955 → 1941–1955 using [[Project:AutoWikiBrowser|AWB]] The '''International Rubber Regulation Agreement''' was a [[1934]] accord between the [[United Kingdom]], [[India]], the [[Netherlands]], [[France]] and [[Thailand]] that formed a [[cartel]] of major rubber producing nations to restrict global [[rubber]] production and maintain a stable, high price for natural rubber. ==Background== Demand for rubber declined sharply after [[World War I]] resulting in the British enacting the [[Stevenson Plan]] in [[1921]] to restrict the supply of rubber to support rubber prices and ensure the profitability of British rubber [[plantations]] in the [[Far East]]. However, the plan had many flaws and was abandoned in [[1928]]. By 1928 the plan both irritated the United States and lacked apparent purpose. Demand for rubber was robust due to expanded use of the automobile in the United States. After the [[stock market crash]] of [[1929]] the [[Great Depression]] hit the United States and rubber demanded once again softened. It was in this context that the International Rubber Regulation Agreement was implemented. ==The Agreement== The Agreement was enacted in [[1934]] between the [[United Kingdom]], [[India]], the [[Netherlands]], [[France]] and [[Thailand]] to restrict the rubber [[supply]] in accordance with the decline of rubber prices to maintain rubber prices and profitability of rubber producing firms. The agreement both prevented establishment of new [[rubber plantations]] and placed production restrictions on existing plantations. The agreement in effect formed a cartel of rubber producing nations that neglected the needs of rubber consuming nations, most notably the [[United States]] and [[Japan]]. ==The Outcome== The United States responded by: establishing rubber plantations in territories under its control; conducting research into rubber producing plants that thrive in the United State's climate; and reinvigorated efforts to replace natural rubber in tires with a synthetic. In the [[Fordlandia venture]] [[Henry Ford]] failed in an attempt to produce rubber in Brazil. The [[Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company]] developed plantations in the [[Philippines]] and [[Costa Rica]] and [[Harvey Firestone]] developed plantations in [[Liberia]]. Research into synthetic rubber was limited by lack of knowledge of the chemical structure of rubber compounds until after [[1945]]. DuPont had developed neoprene in the 1920s in response to the Stevenson Plan, but neoprene was too costly for making tires. During this period the [[International Rubber Research & Development Board]] and the [[Research Association of British Rubber Manufacturers]] were founded. ==References== *[http://www.irrdb.com/IRRDB/NaturalRubber/Default.htm International Rubber Research & Development Board] *[http://www.irrdb.com/IRRDB/NaturalRubber/History/History3.htm History of Natural Rubber (Part 3)] *[http://www.pslc.ws/macrog/exp/rubber/synth/supndem.htm The Story of Rubber:Supply and Demand] *[http://scholar.google.com/url?sa=U&q=https://dspace.mit.edu/bitstream/1721.1/27851/1/MIT-EL-76-027WP-04125239.pdf Paul R. Samuelson, ''THE U.S. GOVERNMENT SYNTHETIC RUBBER PROGRAM 1941–1955'', Working Paper MIT-EL 76-027WP, Energy Laboratory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139 (November, 1976)] *[http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayIssue?jid=ASS&volumeId=36&issueId=03 Stephanie Po-yin Chung, ''Surviving Economic Crises in Southeast Asia and Southern China: The History of Eu Yan Sang Business Conglomerates in Penang, Singapore and Hong Kong'',Modern Asian Studies 36, 3, pp. 579–617. Cambridge University Press (2002, United Kingdom) ] [[Category:Rubber]]