According to reports, quoting the Vietnam Rubber Association, Vietnam has shipped an estimated 1.6 million tonnes of rubber or over US$2 billion in 2018, up 14.5% in volume but down 6.1% year-on-year in value.
In December, the country exported 190,000 tonnes of rubber valued at US$230 million, mostly to China, India and Malaysia, up nearly 13% in volume but down 5.6% in value against the same period last year.
In the previous year, Vietnam imported 617,000 tonnes of rubber totaling over US$1 billion, mainly from South Korea, Japan, Thailand and Cambodia, posting respective year-on-year increases of 10.9% and 2.5%.
The report also stated that by the end of 2018, the country had 965,400 hectares of rubber trees, down 0.4% against late 2017, according to its Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.