President Boakai Targets Smallholders and Informal Rubber Traders with EO 151, While Firestone, LAC, Jetty, et al Walk Free
- Michael T
- Aug 1
- 2 min read
President Joseph Boakai has issued Executive Order 151 banning the export of unprocessed natural rubber, imposing increased taxes, promises of domestic industry, and demanding strict new permit requirements. The policy is being marketed as a strategy for national transformation and economic justice.
However, in reality, the new burdens fall squarely on the shoulders of smallholders and informal traders—those without the capital to establish processing facilities—leaving them at the mercy of whichever big processors remain, often the same firms who have been granted protection under the new law.
The irony is, the main companies that account for the lion’s share of Liberia’s rubber exports, Firestone, Liberia Agriculture Company (LAC), Jetty and others are entirely untouched. These already process their rubber into Technically Specified Rubber (TSR10 and TSR20), which is classified as “processed” and exempt from the ban.
Their lucrative exports—the very backbone of the sector, worth hundreds of millions—continue unscathed and unimpaired. Meanwhile, the real weight of regulation, bureaucracy, and market exclusion lands on rural farmers and smaller sellers who lack access to capital or processing infrastructure.
Liberia’s notorious structural barriers—crippling energy costs, poor roads, unreliable logistics—continue to make domestic manufacturing a high-cost, high-risk endeavor. Businesses are expected to operate by generating their own power using diesel or heavy fuel oil (HFO), forcing them to pay energy prices that render them uncompetitive compared to manufacturers in neighboring countries. In this context, mandatory domestic processing before export is not development strategy.
In 2024, Liberia was the 12th largest rubber exporter in the world, recording $182.4 million in rubber export value—a dramatic 87.9% year-over-year growth. The overwhelming majority of that business is already processed by dominant firms, perfectly in line with the so-called “value addition” standards. So, what exactly is Executive Order 151 aiming to fix?
Rather than creating space for smallholders, the new policy only reinforces the dominance of large multinationals and entrenched interests. As the powerless are forced to accept lower prices and more uncertainty, the monopolies are cemented. Instead of meaningful reform, the order appears to consolidate and legitimize the status quo. Is President Boakai’s administration truly fighting for the nation’s economic future, or simply tipping the scales even further toward the biggest players while suppressing Liberia’s smallholders?
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Additional Sources:
2024 export figures and global ranking—World’s Top Exports (WTEx), “Rubber Exports by Country”.
Technical Specified Rubber (TSR) exemptions, dominance of Firestone/Jetty—Rubber industry trade data, Liberia’s Ministry of Commerce, multiple local business reports.
Senate debates, local prices, sector infrastructure—FrontPage Africa, “Liberia Rubber Sector: Stakeholder Petitions Government Over EO 151” ; Daily Observer, “New Rubber Export Regulations Threaten Rural Livelihoods” .