To secure its own supply of natural rubber, Apollo Tyres has leased approximately 10,000 hectares of land in the Southeast Asian country of Laos. Company chairman and managing director Onkar S Kanwar announced at Apollo Tyres’ Annual General Meeting on August 11 that the tyre maker has “actively entered the area of rubber plantations to try and secure future supplies.” Kanwar later noted that the yield from this rubber plantation would be ready for tapping in within two to seven years and that within five years Apollo plans to meet 25 per cent of its total natural rubber requirements from leased plantations. Reaching this level of self-sufficiency is viewed as a form of insurance – Kanwar opined that a crisis situation currently exists in India in regards to increasing raw material prices and natural rubber shortages.