Malaysia’s natural rubber production up 5.4% in Dec 2018

PETALING JAYA: Malaysia’s natural rubber production increased 5.4% to 54,992 tonnes in December 2018 from 52,174 tonnes in November 2018, according to the Department of Statistics.

However, year-on-year comparison showed the production dropped 18%.

Average price of latex concentrate declined 1% to 377.00 sen per kilogramme, whereas the average price of Standard Malaysian Rubber 20 (SMR 20) rose 1.7% to 518.18 sen per kilogramme as compared with the average prices in November 2018.

Malaysia’s natural rubber exports amounted to 48,183 tonnes, down 9% against 52,943 tonnes in November 2018.

The main destination of exported natural rubber was to China, accounting for 46.5% of total exports in December 2018, followed by Germany (14.8%), Finland and the US (4.6%) respectively and Iran (3.1%).

Domestic consumption of natural rubber in December 2018 was 41,823 tonnes against 42,971 tonnes during November 2018 with a decrease of 2.7%.

The rubber glove industry, as the main consumer, uses 76.2% (31,886 tonnes) of the total domestic consumption of natural rubber.

Stock of natural rubber stood at 173,848 tonnes, 2.3% higher than the 169,939 tonnes recorded at the end of November 2018.

Source: TheSunDaily