The Malaysian Rubber Board (MRB) and Singapore-based technology company Agridence Rubber Pte Ltd have inked a technical collaboration agreement to set up a digital trading platform for sustainable natural rubber.

In a joint statement on Friday, MRB and Agridence said the scope of the cooperation is to develop an integrated end-to-end trade and traceability system to streamline the transition towards regulatory compliance and sustainability with the final goal to provide Malaysian Sustainable Natural Rubber (MSNR) to the stakeholders.

"The agreement marks a new milestone for the rubber industry to integrate digital traceability systems to promote transparency and sustainability of Malaysian natural rubber. This one-year project has started on Oct 2, 2023", it said.

The statement said the pilot project between MRB and Agridence paves the way for an innovative and collaborative endeavor, focused on harnessing technology to facilitate extensive data sharing and the integration of digital traceability systems.

"Agridence and MRB will jointly establish a robust framework for seamlessly sharing and integrating data, including traceability data spanning the entire rubber production process, distribution, and processing.

"The integrated data will be linked with the Agridence Rubber Platform, where physical natural rubber trades take place between Malaysian rubber producers and buyers", it said.

According to the statement, MRB is active in digitalizing the domestic rubber supply chain through initiatives such as the Rubber Transaction Authority Permit (PAT-G) for smallholders, RRIMniaga™ application for dealers, e-Rubber Processor (e-RP) for processors, and e-Rubber Manufacturer (e-RM) for manufacturers.

It said the digitalization enables a partnership with Agridence, ensuring end-to-end visibility of natural rubber, and furthering the MSNR initiative.