KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 14 (NNN-BERNAMA) – Malaysia’s natural rubber production decreased by 10.3 percent to 31,795 tonnes in Oct, from 35,460 tonnes in Sept, official data showed today.
The Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM) said in a statement that, the year-on-year comparison showed that the production of natural rubber fell 26.3 percent from 43,127 tonnes a year ago.
Meanwhile, exports of Malaysia’s natural rubber amounted to 41,548 tonnes in Oct, declined 23.8 percent as against 54,542 tonnes in Sept.
China remained as the main destination for the country’s natural rubber exports, which accounted for 56.2 percent of total exports in Oct, followed by Germany (8.2 percent), Brazil (3.3 percent), Finland (3.2 percent) and Iran (three percent).
According to the DOSM, the export performance was contributed by natural rubber-based products such as gloves, tyres, tubes and rubber threads.
Gloves were the main exports of rubber-based products with a value of 1.1 billion ringgit (249 million U.S. dollars) in Oct, a decrease of 13.2 percent as compared to 1.3 billion ringgit (294.5 million dollars) in Sept.
Total stocks of natural rubber in Oct, on the other hand, slipped 0.3 percent to 198,122 tonnes as compared to 198,706 tonnes in Sept.–