Rubber Trade Association of Penang


Rubber Trade Association Of Penang, one of the oldest surviving rubber trade associations in the country, represents the interests of members of the rubber trade in the state. It is also known as the Penang Rubber Trade Association.

Background

The oldest surviving rubber trade body from British Malaya is the Singapore International Chamber of Commerce Rubber Association, formed at a special general meeting of the Singapore Chamber of Commerce and Exchange, at the Exchange Room on 20 June 1911. From its first auction on 12 September till the end of that year, the Singapore Chamber of Commerce Rubber Association held 12 auctions. 52 auctions were held in 1912.
Shortly after, in 1913, the Penang Chamber of Commerce formed a Rubber Association to provide a market for this principal article of local agriculture through weekly auction sales. It was envisaged that large supplies of rubber would be attracted and that there would be regular buyers. When the idea for the Rubber Association was first mooted, Allen Dennys & Co., who had already been performing auctions in Penang since November 1912, in an earlier circular to their clients, asked them to favour the firm by appointing them as their agents, promising to defray all fees due to The Chamber out of the 1 per cent commission charged. The first auction was held on 12 November where 24,707 lbs. were offered of which 22,882 lbs were sold. In January 1915, at the annual general meeting of the Penang Chamber of Commerce, Messrs. Allen Dennys and Company asked for a fixed fee of $5 be paid in respect of each occasion a seller conducts a sale in the chamber, instead of the prevailing brokerage of one-eighth percent, pointing out that the firm had been the sole supporter of the association and that 91.50 percent of the fees had been borne by them. The committee discussing the issue, objected, pointing out that while the facts relating to the percentage of fees were admitted, that percentage it was also necessary to acknowledge that the business had increased by more than 150 percent since the start of the association fourteen months earlier. At this point Allen Dennys and Company withdrew from membership in the association, which brought sales in the association room to a halt. Other members were called upon to step forward and fill the place vacated by Allen Dennys and Company. In August 1915, at the half-yearly general meeting chaired by John Mitchell, it was revealed that the position remained the same as advised at the general meeting earlier - no member had come forward with any propositions and the committee had not taken any steps to re-establish sales under the Penang Chamber of Commerce Rubber Association. There was nothing more heard on the subject and the interests of members of Penang's rubber trade remained unrepresented until the advent of the Rubber Trade Association of Penang, in the form of its original incarnation, The Penang Rubber Exchange. Allen Dennys' firm, however, continued to hold rubber auctions, on their own. By late February 1917, the firm had conducted its 258th sale. The results of each of the firm's rubber auctions was published in the Straits Times, the last of which appeared in the issue of 18 May 1918.

Chronology of Early History