The Russian government has expressed interest to exchanging its Sukhoi jet fighters for natural rubber from Indonesia, Trade Ministry foreign trade director general Oke Nurwan said.

“They are interested in our crumb rubber,” said Oke in Jakarta as reported by kompas.com on Tuesday, adding that the Indonesian government had not made a decision on the offer, but that if it was finally agreed to a relevant minister would draft a ministerial regulation as the legal basis for such an agreement.

Both Indonesian and Russian governments have expressed their interest in carrying out the barter trade. Oke said the Indonesian government had expressed interest in obtaining Sukhoi jet fighters while Russia wanted rubber from Indonesia.

The proposed barter trade is valued at US$600 million.

Meanwhile, the Indonesian Rubber Company Association (Gapkindo) has responded positively to the proposed trade in the hopes that it will expand the Indonesian rubber market and increase the price of Indonesian rubber.

Gapkindo’s advisory council member Asri Sutan Amir said rubber prices declined to Rp 6,000 (45 US cents) per kilogram in the first quarter of 2017, from Rp 10,000 earlier this year.

Meanwhile, Lukman Zakaria, of the Indonesian Rubber Farmers Association (Apkarindo), said the decline in price had occurred since March due to declining demand in the global market as a result of new contracts being signed in previous months.

“Because of the rampant number of contracts signed during the early months of this year, warehouses have now been filled with rubber stocks,” he added. (bbn)