Vietnam is expected to earn 989 million U.S. dollars from exporting rubber in the first eight months of 2014, down 31.9 percent year-on-year, Vietnam Industry and Trade Information Center (VITIC) under the Ministry of Industry and Trade said on Friday.
VITIC quoted a report by Vietnam’s Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) as saying that in eight-month period, Vietnam is likely to export some 548,000 tons of rubber, down 9.8 percent year-on-year.
The average export price of Vietnamese rubber in the first seven months of 2014 stood at 1,830 U.S. dollars per ton, down 24. 96 percent year-on-year.
China and Malaysia remained the largest rubber consumers of Vietnam in seven-month period; however, Vietnam’s exports of rubber to the two markets experienced sharp year-on-year decrease.
In the first seven months, Vietnam exported some 182,395 tons of rubber worth 321.17 million U.S. dollars to China, down 21 percent in volume and 40.25 percent in value year-on-year.
In order to help remove difficulties of the rubber sector, Vietnam’s Ministry of Finance recently issued a circular to reduce the export tax on rubber to zero percent. The current export tax on Vietnamese rubber is one percent and the new tax will be applied from October 2, 2014, reported VITIC.
Since 2013, the rubber sector of Vietnam has been witnessing difficulties due to decreasing rubber prices and high world inventory, assessed Vietnam Rubber Association (VRA).
Vietnam has become the fourth biggest rubber exporter worldwide, said VRA in mid-July.