01785nam a2200109Ia 4500008004100000100001900041245009600060260014500156520133600301650001901637650001901656220216s9999    xx            000 0 und d  aNethsinghe L P 0aNeeds of the latex dipping industry bridging the gap-Research centres/academia and industry  bProceedings of the First Symposium on Plantation Crop Research : Current Trends and Future Challenges,8-9 July, 2004, Sri Lanka, pp.165-171.  aAlthough the annual production of raw natural rubber in Sri Lanka has been dwindling during the last couple of years, the consumption of rubber in dry form as well as in latex form has increased. Out of the total global annual consumption of over 7 million tonnes of NR, almost 1 million tonne of NR is in the form of latex. The challenge in the industry today is to maintain the consistency in quality of the latex products. The problem becomes more acute due to variations of the quality of raw latex. To solve the complications arising out of quality variations, the rubber technologists and the chemists should have a sound understanding of the technological behaviour of raw latex and of latex compounds. They also should have innovative ideas to develop new products and to fine tune the formulations in order to meet the customer requirements in the global competitive market. In this context, the research and academic centres have a big role to play by better interaction with the industry. The research centers can do this by short and long term product and process development, by providing consultancy and by testing of products. The academic centers can do this by producing graduates of high calibre in order to innovate new products to meet the customer needs in the ever increasing competition in the global market.  aLatex products  aNatural rubber