KUALA LUMPUR: The Malaysia Rubber Council (MRC) has initiated a RM10 million grant for Global Funding for Rubber Innovation (GFRI) to local and overseas parties in bid to encourage research into rubber-based products expansion.
Plantation Industries and Commodities Minister Datuk Zuraida Kamaruddin said the initiative is timely as demand for existing rubber-based products could decline post-Covid-19 pandemic.
"This is a suitable move to diversify rubber-based products in the market.
"During the pandemic, demand for rubber products such as gloves was high but as the situation is improving, demand will come down.
"The RM10 million grant is an opportunity for researchers, industries and universities to use the fund to come up with products different from existing ones," she said in a press conference after launching the GFRI here today.
Also present was MRC chief executive officer Nor Hizwan Ahmad.
Malaysian rubber products are currently exported to 189 countries worldwide, with exports having increased by 50.6 per cent from RM40.1 billion in 2020 to RM61.7 billion in 2021.
The research grant is open to all local and overseas researchers from public and private research institutions, universities, other institutes of higher learning and companies.
A special committee consisting of industry and technical experts from the public and the private sector has been set up to conduct technical and financial evaluations on proposals that conform to the requirements of the funding programme.
MRC chairman Dr Daroyah Alwi said it will serve as an ideal platform to seed innovative inter-disciplinary non-fundamental research with the potential to promote investments in high-value products and technologies within the rubber and rubber products industry.
"It also provides a platform to find solutions to critical problems faced by the rubber industry, from upstream to downstream sectors," she said.