President George M. Weah has suspended the exportation of unprocessed natural rubber from Liberia until otherwise advised, in a bid to deal with the depreciating situation and ongoing thievery in the country’s rubber industry.
The President stressed that the move is aimed at taking immediate steps to curb the decline in the Liberian rubber industry until appropriate policies and frameworks can be put in place.
He said it is also intended to improve the situation of the rubber industry in the long term, in order to ensure redevelopment, new development, increased production, increased job opportunities, and increased revenue to government.
An Executive Order #124, issued by the Liberian leader’s office in Monrovia, stated, “Unprocessed natural rubber shall be defined as the raw material tapped from rubber trees, not having gone through any processing to change its physical or chemical composition; or natural latex, coagulum, cup lump, tree lace, bark scrap, ground scrap and any other form of unprocessed or processed natural rubber (including concentrated latex and dry rubber produced or derived from the latex produced by rubber trees.”
“For purposes of this Executive Order, processed rubber shall mean latex concentrate, technically specified rubber (TSR) and other dry rubber or grades of rubber that are generally considered to be processed rubber by the natural rubber industry worldwide,” he said.
According to President Weah, the Ministries of Commerce and Industry, Finance, or any other government agency, shall not issue or authorize the issuance of any export permit for unprocessed natural rubber from Liberia.
This, he stressed, “Within 30 days of the issuance of this Executive Order, the Ministry of Commerce and Industry in conjunction with the Ministry of Agriculture shall make special effort to provide access to domestic markets for Liberian rubber farmers in remote areas who rely primarily on cross-border trade in unprocessed natural rubber.”
“That all custom officers and law enforcement authorities at points of entry and exit to and from Liberia, whether by land, sea, or air, shall stop and prohibit the exportation of all consignments of unprocessed natural rubber from Liberia,” the Liberian leader noted.
He furthered, “That transporting or moving unprocessed natural rubber outside of rubber plantations between the hours of 8:00 pm and 6:00 am shall be prohibited and individuals found transporting or moving unprocessed natural rubber during those hours shall be stopped by plant protection force or law enforcement authorities.”
“And any persons found to be in violation of this Executive Order shall be prosecuted by the Ministry of Justice, in keeping with Law of the Republic of Liberia, the President added.
