Last Updated : 15 March 2010 at 14:35 IST

Malaysia nat rubber output rises by 12..3% in Jan

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KUALA LUMPUR (Commodity Online) : World’s leading rubber producer, Malaysia produced 108,892 tones of natural rubber in January this year, an increase of 12.3 per cent or 11,890 tones from the previous month.

According to country’s Statistics Department, year-on-year, production rose 48.4 per cent or 35,524 tones.

The estate sector contributed only 5.2 per cent to total production, while the share from the smallholding sector amounted to 94.8 per cent, the report said.

As for exports, 69,549 tones of NR was shipped in January, which was down by 1.2 per cent when compared with December 2009 but significantly higher by 40.6 per cent when compared with January last year.

Standard Malaysian Rubber (SMR) accounted for 93.6 per cent of total exports with the largest contributor being the SMR 20 which gave 58.3 per cent.

During the period reviewed, 35.4 per cent of the exports of NR was to China, while the share of exports to Germany, Iran, Korea, the United States and Brazil was 10.5 per cent, 8.9 per cent, 6.8 per cent, 4.9 per cent and 3.8 per cent, respectively.

NR imports in January meanwhile amounted to 73,126 tones, a decrease by 10.8 per cent over the previous month, but a sharp rise by 68.4 per cent year-on-year.

Latex concentrate was the main type of rubber imported in the month, accounting for 45.0 per cent of total imports.

Domestic consumption of NR during the period was 40,951 tones, a decline of 0.2 per cent over December 2009, but up by 19 per cent year-on-year.

Rubber gloves was the major NR consuming industry at 67.0 per cent, followed by tyre and tubes at 10.8 per cent, while rubber thread took up 9.9 per cent.

These three industries together consumed 87.47 per cent of NR in January this year.

At the end of the month reviewed, total stocks of NR held was 194,821 tones, an increase of 20.8 per cent over the previous month and 16.1 per cent year-on-year.

The average monthly price of latex concentrate in January was 657.25 sen, an increase of 12 per cent over December 2009 and 70.6 per cent year-on-year.

The price of SMR 20 also showed a similar pattern, increasing by 7.4 per cent to 994,38 sen when compared with December 2009, while year-on-year it showed a substantial increase of 98.5 per cent. It was the highest price level since August 2008.