COMPANY MEETING
UNITED SERDANG (SUMATRA) RUBBER PLANTATIONS
MR. ERIC MILLER ON THE OUTLOOK
THE 31st ordinary general meeting of the United Serdang (Sumatra) Rubber Plantations, Limited, was held on 25th January in London. Mr. H. Eric Miller, the chairman of the company, who presided, after referring to the hardships of double taxation and to other domestic matters, went on to say that the downward turn in trade, particularly in the U.S.A., and the unsettling political conditions elsewhere, -had had a detrimental effect on the absorption of rubber. It was difficult for any important primary commodity to escape from the paralysing effects of nervous tension which was so much in evidence at the present time, and the underlying improvement which had been effected in the statistical position of the commodity was apt to be obscured. Under those circumstances the decision to raise the exportable percentage for January/March, 1939, to 5o on a higher basic quota had met with an unfavourable reception and the price had fluctuated on a rather lower level.
Although complete data for 1938 were not yet available, the absorption of rubber in manufacturing countries must have been about 905,000 tons, nearly 190,000 tons less than the absorption in 1937. It must be borne in mind, however, that during 1937 many countries were probably importing rubber in excess of their imme- diate requirements, so that there had been a spread over from 1937 to 1938, and there were indications that stocks of tyres and other rubber goods in the hands of manufacturers and dealers were lower at the end of 1938 than at the end of 5937. Were it not for the clouds on the international political horizon and the consequential general desire to keep commitments down to a minimum, one would be entitled to anticipate a rise in price during 1939, but how events would shape depended on incalculable factors beyond his ken.
Without exaggerating or belittling possible competition from synthetic substitutes, the plantation industry must do all it could further to reorganise itself on sound progressive lines. As speedily as circumstances warranted, areas carrying middle aged trees raised from unselected seed should be converted into up-to-date gardens carrying trees raised from known high yielding parents. As to the result of the company's trading for the year under review, the credit balance on profit and loss account to be dealt with was £242,638. They recommend a dividend of 9 per cent. and would carry forward £94,544.
The report was unanimously adopted.
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