KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia’s natural rubber (NR) output fell to 51,146 tonnes in November 2015, a drop of 28.4 per cent or 20,243 tonnes from October, the Department of Statistics said yesterday.
Comparing year-on-year (y-o-y), the production also slipped by three pre cent or 1,587 tonnes, it said in its monthly production statistics for November 2015.
Smallholdings contributed 92.1 per cent of total production, while the estate sector produced the remaining 7.9 per cent.
On month-on-month basis, both the smallholdings and estate sectors recorded a decrease in production, at 28.2 per cent and 30.7 per cent respectively.
Exports totalled 45,259 tonnes, a reduction of 18.3 per cent, compared with November 2015 and as for y-o-y, it declined 2.5 per cent or 1,166 tonnes.
Standard Malaysian Rubber (SMR) made up the bulk of the exports, accounting for 94.5 per cent.
In the month under review, NR was mainly exported to China (52.1 per cent), followed by Germany (11 per cent), Iran (6.5 per cent), United States (3.7 per cent), Finland (3.6 per cent), Turkey (3.5 per cent), France (2.2 per cent), Brazil (1.5 per cent) and Korea (1.4 per cent).
In November 2015, imports of NR stood at 91,110 tonnes, up 8.6 per cent when compared with October and was 13.2 per cent higher when compared with the corresponding month of 2014.
The main type of NR imported was standard rubber (38.6 per cent) and latex concentrate (27.4 per cent).
They were mainly imported from Thailand and Vietnam at 47.1 per cent and 22.7 per cent respectively.
Domestic consumption of NR in November 2015 was 39,651 tonnes, a drop of 5.4 per cent or 2,262 tonnes from October, but the y-o-y comparison showed that the domestic consumption increased by 958 tonnes or 2.5 per cent.
The major NR consuming industries in the month was the rubber gloves industry at 29,910 tonnes (75.4 per cent), tyre and tubes (eight per cent) and rubber thread (7.3 per cent).
These three industries consumed 35,996 tonnes (90.7 per cent) of the total domestic consumption of NR.
Stocks of NR held at the end of November 2015 dropped 2.4 per cent to 144,367 tonnes from October.
However, comparing y-o-y, it improved by 7.6 per cent.
The biggest portion amounting to 87.1 per cent of the stocks was held by rubber processors, said the department. — Bernama
