The Cambodian Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries has announced that the Kingdom exported some 282,070 tonnes of rubber in 2019, a 30% increase from 2018’s 217,500 tonnes. The commodity reeled in US$ 377 million in revenue at that point, up 32% from 2018’s US$ 286 million. The Director of the General Directorate of Rubber’s Administration and Legal Department (GDR), Khoun Phalla, expects rubber prices will remain stable this year as the average price last year was up US$19 from 2018, at US$ 1,336 per tonne; and averaged US$ 1,371 per tonne in December.
The Ministry also reported that a total of 406,142 ha of rubber had been planted last year, with more than 247,113 ha having been harvested. Here, Khoun Phalla mentioned that China was the “biggest market” for Cambodia’s rubber production, “We export it to China through Vietnam.”
In other news, the GDR was to begin studying family-owned rubber plantations in January this year, to better understand how growers responded to the sharp drop in rubber prices over the past nine years – the study will focus on the Kingdom’s three dominant rubber-producing regions, namely Kampong Cham province’s Stung Trang district, Kratie province’s Snuol district, and Ratanakkiri province’s Bakeo district.