Natural rubber exports in November last year rose 15 per cent to 74,792 tonnes from the same period in 2012, the Statistics Department said today.
The Standard Malaysian Rubber (SMR) contributed 92.1 per cent of the total exports, with 66.5 per cent of that comprising SMR 20, the department said in a statement.
Natural rubber was exported mainly to China (58.2 per cent), followed by Germany (9.9 per cent), Iran (4.6 per cent), the United States (3.9 per cent), Brazil (3.8 per cent), South Korea (3.5 per cent) Turkey (1.7 per cent) and Taiwan (1.2 per cent).
However, compared with October last year, natural rubber exports declined by 5.2 per cent, the department said.
Production for the month under review totalled 67,420 tonnes, down 10.4 per cent year-on-year, with the smallholding sector contributing 93.3 per cent whilst the estate sector accounted for 6.7 per cent.
“Kedah produced the highest natural rubber in estates, accounting for 20.1 per cent, followed by Perak (16.9 per cent) and Johor (16.5 per cent),” the department said.
Total natural rubber for domestic consumption in November last year was recorded at 36,099 tonnes, down four per cent year-on-year, with the rubber gloves industry being the highest consuming industry at 25,043 tonnes (69.4 per cent), followed by rubber thread (10.9 per cent) and tyre and tubes (6.5 per cent).
The country’s natural rubber stocks stood at 147,448 tonnes as at
end-November last year, a 6.8 per cent reduction from October 2013 and 9.0 per cent lower compared with November 2012.
The average monthly price of latex concentrate was 512.45 sen, a three per cent fall from October 2013 and also a 8.6 per cent drop from the same month in 2012.
Production productivity for the month under review was recorded at 108.9 kilogramme per hectare, down by 7.2 per cent from the previous month, but registered a six per cent increase year-on-year.– Bernama
