KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia’s natural rubber production in June rose 33.1 per cent to 66,566 tonnes from the 50,016 tonnes recorded in May, the Statistics Department said today.
However, June’s output was 22.5 per cent lower vis-a-vis the 85,866 tonnes produced in the same month last year.
The smallholdings sector accounted for 92.2 per cent of the natural rubber produced in June, while estates accounted for the remaining 7.8 per cent.
Stocks at end-June stood at 130,224 tonnes, rising 5.9 per cent from the 122,920 tonnes held at end-May. The highest producer of natural rubber on estates was Negeri Sembilan (21.6 per cent), and Perak (17.1 per cent).
Total exports of natural rubber in June amounted to 62,404 tonnes, down 1.6 per cent from the 63,437 tonnes in the previous month, the department said in a statement.
The commodity was mainly exported to China (35.2 per cent), followed by Germany (14.1 per cent), Iran (11.4 per cent), the United States (3.6 per cent), Brazil (2.9 per cent), South Africa (3.1 per cent), Finland (2.6 per cent) and Taiwan (2.1 per cent).
Meanwhile, Malaysia’s natural rubber imports rose 7.1 per cent to 76,313 tonnes in June compared with 71,267 tonnes imported in May.
The main suppliers were Thailand (52.1 per cent) and Vietnam (23.8 per cent), which together accounted for 75.9 per cent of the total imports in June.
Domestic consumption was up 0.8 per cent at 37,073 tonnes in June from the 36,792 tonnes consumed the previous month.
The rubber gloves industry was the highest consumer of natural rubber (66.4 per cent), followed by rubber threads (11.5 per cent) and tyres and tubes (6.8 per cent).
The total consumption for these three industries stood at 24,602 tonnes, or 84.7 per cent of the overall domestic consumption of natural rubber. — BERNAMA
