THE STATISTICS Department in Malaysia said that natural rubber (NR) exports in November last year rose 15% to 74,792 tonnes from the same period in 2012.
The Standard Malaysian Rubber (SMR) contributed 92.1% of the total exports, with 66.5% of that comprising SMR 20, the department stated.
NR was exported mainly to China (58.2%), followed by Germany (9.9%), Iran (4.6%), the US (3.9%), Brazil (3.8%), South Korea (3.5%) Turkey (1.7%) and Taiwan (1.2%).
However, NR exports in October declined by 5.2%, compared to a year earlier.
Production for the month under review totalled 67,420 tonnes, down 10.4% year-on-year, with the smallholding sector contributing 93.3% whilst the estate sector accounted for 6.7%.
The Department said that Kedah produced the highest NR in estates, accounting for 20.1%, followed by Perak (16.9%) and Johor (16.5%).
Total NR for domestic consumption in November last year was recorded at 36,099 tonnes, down 4% year-on-year, with the rubber gloves industry being the highest consuming industry at 25,043 tonnes (69.4%), followed by rubber thread (10.9%) and tyre and tubes (6.5%).
The country’s NR stocks stood at 147,448 tonnes as at end-November last year, a 6.8% reduction from October 2013 and 9% lower compared with November 2012.
The average monthly price of latex concentrate was 512.45 sen, a three per cent fall from October 2013 and also a 8.6% drop from the same month in 2012.
Production productivity for the month under review was recorded at 108.9 kilogramme per hectare, down by 7.2% from the previous month, but registered a six per cent increase year-on-year.