Rubber Plantation Value Chains in Laos: Opportunities and Constraints in Policy, Legality and Wood Processing Authors: Hilary Smith, Juliet Lu, Phuc Xuan To, Soytavanh Mienmany, Khonethong Soukphaxay 30 June 2020 ACIAR project: Advancing enhanced wood manufacturing industries in Laos and Australia 1 Contents Contents ............................................................................................................................................................. 2 Acknowledgements .......................................................................................................................................... 4 Notes ................................................................................................................................................................... 4 Executive Summary ........................................................................................................................................... 5 Key observations: .......................................................................................................................................... 5 Recommendations ....................................................................................................................................... 6 Introduction ........................................................................................................................................................ 7 Research Methods ............................................................................................................................................ 8 Literature review and legal/policy analysis ................................................................................................ 8 Key informant interviews ............................................................................................................................... 8 Value Chain Analysis..................................................................................................................................... 9 Research Findings ............................................................................................................................................ 10 Key observations ......................................................................................................................................... 10 General Findings .......................................................................................................................................... 10 Overarching recommendations ............................................................................................................... 12 Context ............................................................................................................................................................. 17 Rubber Value Chains .................................................................................................................................. 17 Rubber plantations in Laos ......................................................................................................................... 18 Latex production ......................................................................................................................................... 22 Rubber Latex Markets ................................................................................................................................. 23 Rubberwood Markets ................................................................................................................................. 25 Policies .............................................................................................................................................................. 26 Land Marketization or ‘Turning Land into Capital’ .................................................................................. 26 Forest policies ............................................................................................................................................... 28 Policies for Investment, Markets, Trade and Processing ......................................................................... 31 Opium replacement policies in Laos and China .................................................................................... 32 Governance in the Rubber Sector ................................................................................................................ 35 National Assembly and Provincial Assemblies ......................................................................................... 35 Local Administration ................................................................................................................................... 35 Ministry of Planning and Investment ......................................................................................................... 35 Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment ...................................................................................... 35 Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry ........................................................................................................... 36 Ministry of Industry and Commerce .......................................................................................................... 37 Ministry of Finance ....................................................................................................................................... 38 Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare ...................................................................................................... 39 National University of Laos .......................................................................................................................... 39 Financial Institutions ..................................................................................................................................... 39 Industry Associations and Organisations .................................................................................................. 39 Non-Government Organisations ............................................................................................................... 40 Other Organisations .................................................................................................................................... 41 Rubber in the Regulatory Framework ........................................................................................................... 43 Accessing land for rubber plantations ..................................................................................................... 43 Plantations .................................................................................................................................................... 46 Rubber and Wood Processing ................................................................................................................... 50 Labour ........................................................................................................................................................... 51 Trade and Export ......................................................................................................................................... 52 Timber Legality ............................................................................................................................................. 53 Rubber Arrangements - Land, Latex and Labour and Wood ................................................................... 54 Our Research Findings ................................................................................................................................ 59 Production and Processing ............................................................................................................................ 75 Natural Rubber Latex .................................................................................................................................. 75 Rubberwood processing and manufacturing ......................................................................................... 78 Potential for Rubberwood in Laos ............................................................................................................. 83 Rubberwood and Timber Legality ............................................................................................................. 84 2 Labour ........................................................................................................................................................... 86 Gender and Family ..................................................................................................................................... 88 Conclusions ...................................................................................................................................................... 89 References ....................................................................................................................................................... 90 Appendix 1: List of Interviews ......................................................................................................................... 99 List of Figures Figure 1: Research Locations ........................................................................................................................... 8 Figure 2: Village interviews in Luang Prabang Province ..............................................................................