After the work of various departments was almost arranged, Prime Minister Roger stood up and said the biggest problem facing the government at present with a slightly heavy face.

"Your Majesty, after our mass expulsion of the indigenous people of Java and Sumatra, rubber production in Southeast Asia has ushered in a huge impact, and there is even a tendency to evolve into a worldwide rubber crisis." Prime Minister Roger said.

Dutch-controlled Dutch East Indies is one of the most important regions for natural rubber production, contributing nearly one-third of Southeast Asia's rubber production.

Even if you look at the world, the Dutch East Indies still produces more than one-fifth of rubber, which is quite an exaggerated figure.

After the mass expulsion of the indigenous peoples, the rubber production in Java and Sumatra was already understaffed, and it was impossible to rely on the remaining Dutch and a small number of indigenous people on the two islands to grow rubber.

Let's not talk about whether these people are willing to go or not, there are certain skills in harvesting rubber, and those who don't understand it will also add to the chaos if they go.

The rubber crisis in Southeast Asia began at the time of the Dutch East Indies colonial rebellion, and it has not stopped at all.

The two most important reasons are that Australasia is still evicting indigenous people, and rubber production in Java and Sumatra has fallen into a labor shortage.

The second reason is that rubber industrial parks in other regions are unlikely to expand rapidly, and the lost rubber production in Java and Sumatra will not be made up by other regions in a short period of time.

The price of rubber has remained high since the birth of this product, and rubber cultivation has always been one of the most profitable industries, even now.

Although there has been a rubber crisis before, the price of rubber, which is widely used in automobile tires, is even higher than before.

According to records of rubber prices, the price of rubber around 1880 was around £401 per tonne.

As we entered the early 20th century, the price of rubber also increased to around £459 per tonne, which is a normal increase.

However, after the birth of the Australasian car, as the car became popular all over the world, the price of rubber used as a tire also ushered in a sharp increase.

By 1910 the price of rubber had risen to more than £600 per tonne, and in some regions it had even exceeded £800 per tonne.

Then came the World War, which greatly reduced the demand for rubber, which also led to a surplus of rubber production, which was not enough, and the price of rubber plummeted after 1914, reaching a minimum of less than £250 per tonne.

Even after the war, the economic recovery of various countries was not very good, the production and demand for rubber did not grow rapidly, and the price of rubber has been stable at around 300 pounds per tonne, and sometimes even falls below 250 pounds.

Before 1900, most of the rubber was produced in South America, and after 1900, a large number of rubber industrial parks were planted in Southeast Asia, and the combined output has even broken the record set in South America, which is one of the reasons why the price of rubber has not risen.

According to the information obtained by Australasia after taking control of the Dutch East Indies, the entire Dutch East Indies region (including the former Australasian occupation and the Sultanate of Kalimantan) has a rubber cultivation area of 400,000 hectares and a total rubber production of 280,000 tons.

At a value of around £270 per tonne of rubber, the total value of 280,000 tonnes of rubber is close to £75.6 million.

What kind of exaggeration is this? Although it may seem less than £100 million, Australasia's total annual revenue is just over £100 million.

The total value of rubber production in the Dutch East Indies alone is not much less than the total annual revenue of Australasia, which is enough to prove the windfall profits of the rubber industry today.

Of course, less than a quarter of the more than 400,000 hectares of rubber plantations were previously owned by the Netherlands.

This also makes the Dutch East Indies only earn about 15 million pounds a year on the premise that the output of rubber is as high as more than 75 million pounds.

But this is definitely not a small income, and it is also the value of the Dutch East Indies. Combined with the region's other mineral resources, including tens of millions of indigenous people, the Dutch East Indies were able to generate more than £20 million a year for the Netherlands.

But all of this changed dramatically with Australasia's policy of expulsion of Aborigines.

Prime Minister Roger continued: "According to our statistics, rubber production fell by more than a quarter last year, and this year it may be even lower, or even less than half of its peak.

The high price of rubber has seriously affected the industrial development of our country, not only the automobile industry, but also many industries that use rubber are already complaining about the price of rubber, and a large number of rubber plantations abroad are also complaining about the lack of manpower after our expulsion of the indigenous people. ”

"Is there anyone behind this?" Arthur asked.

If rubber prices were simply reduced by the eviction of Aborigines from Australasia, this would be manageable.

But if there is someone behind the push, or even want to cause another rubber crisis, then we have to be on guard.

You know, Australasia's automotive industry is definitely among the best in the world. This has also led to the fact that there is not a lot of rubber industry in Australasia, and there are countless manufacturers of various tyres.

There are also a series of tire repair shops, small workshops for the production of rubber products, etc., which is a complete set of industrial chain.

If a crisis breaks out at the source of rubber, it will be a devastating blow to the entire industrial chain of rubber, and it will also be an extreme obstacle for the industry of Australasia.

"For the time being, I haven't found anyone pushing behind it, Your Majesty. But the opinions of a large number of rubber plantation owners, including the Dutch, also had to be taken into account, and they demanded that we keep a certain number of indigenous people as their labour. Prime Minister Roger shook his head and replied.

Hearing that there was no one behind him, Arthur breathed a sigh of relief. But hearing the threats and complaints against Australasia from some rubber plantation owners, including the Dutch, Arthur couldn't help but smile and ordered: "

Tell the foreign rubber plantation owners that the current Dutch East Indies is Australasian territory and should naturally follow the laws of Australasia.

Those indigenous people are not recognised under Australasian law, are not citizens of Australasia, and naturally have no right or right to reside in Australasian territory.

In the case of a shortage of labour, they can hire a local legal citizen, or an Australasian citizen.

As long as they abide by Australasia's labour laws and protect the interests of civilians, it is believed that a large number of people will be willing to work for them, provided that they need to change. ”

It is impossible for the natives to remain on the islands of Java and Sumatra, both of which are part of Arthur's plan to indigenize the colony, so it is naturally impossible to leave such a hidden danger as the natives.

While this may have affected rubber plantations on both islands, most of these plantations were foreign property and did not have much of an impact on Arthur and Australasia.

More importantly, according to the trend of rubber prices in history, the price of rubber will plummet within ten years, but rubber production is growing.

Under such circumstances, Arthur naturally had no interest in taking over these rubber plantations. Although rubber is used in many industries in Australasia, with several islands in the Dutch East Indies, it is impossible for Australasia to be short of rubber.

As for the complaints of those foreign rubber industrial parks, they are not at all painful for Arthur. As long as they abide by the laws of Australasia, there is no shortage of human resources at all.

But if their crisis is a failure to comply with the law, then they deserve it, and the Australasian government has no responsibility or obligation to help them resolve it.

"Your Majesty, will this have an impact on our reputation? We had just acquired the Dutch East Indies and rejected the rubber plantations in this way, I am afraid that some Europeans would hate us. Chancellor Roger was a little apprehensive and hesitant to express his concerns.

"It's okay." Arthur chuckled and said, "The protest of a small number of capitals has no effect on us, and we don't need the support of these capitals at all. What's more, the current islands of Java and Sumatra are Australasian territories, and foreign capital is not in any position to dictate our rule.

If this is not possible, the royal consortium can also buy some rubber plantations to maintain the scale of domestic rubber production.

I don't believe it, the rubber industry can't run without these rubber plantations, they can't decide what rubber production is in our country. ”

While rubber is important to Australasia's industrial development, these foreign rubber plantation owners have no influence on Australasia.

First of all, their rubber plantations are still Australasian territory after all, and naturally Australasian laws are subject to them.

What's more, neither in terms of assets nor status, they can compete with the much larger royal consortium.

If they don't follow the law, they face a labor shortage, a labor shortage will face a collapse in rubber production, and a collapse in rubber production will face a loss of profits, which is an endless cycle and they have to give in to the Australasian government.

If there really is one who is unwilling to give in to Australasia, Arthur doesn't mind buying them at a low price after their business is in total loss or even bankruptcy.

It is not cost-effective for the royal consortium to buy rubber plantations at a normal price or even a premium, after all, the price of rubber will go through a period of bumps and decreases.

If it is bought at a low price when the rubber plantation goes bankrupt, no matter how volatile the price of rubber is, the deal is still a good deal.

3000 words for the first update, ask for a monthly pass, ask for support!

(End of chapter)