KUALA LUMPUR (June 28, 2011)—Total natural rubber supplies from the member nations of the Association of Natural Rubber Producing Countries grew 3 percent in the second quarter of 2011, according to the June edition of the ANRPC newsletter, Natural Rubber Trends & Statistics.
Supply growth had been 10.4 percent during the first quarter, but various factors—including worries about the global economy, weak demand for NR, depreciation of Southeast Asian currencies against the U.S. dollar and a stronger Japanese yen—combined to make the market unfavorable for NR growers, the ANRPC said.
The possibility of falling NR prices may also work to reduce supply because rubber growers turn to other crops whenever rubber prices get soft, the report said.
The ANRPC estimates a total NR supply for January-December 2011 of 9.962 million metric tons, up very slightly from the 9.936 million metric tons it predicted in May. This represents total annual supply growth of 5.2 percent, it said.
Total NR production in ANRPC countries for April-June 2011 is estimated at 2.1 million metric tons, compared with 2.4 million metric tons for January-March 2011.
This issue of Natural Rubber Trends & Statistics marks the last that will be published under the direction of Djoko Said Damardjati, ANRPC secretary-general, who is stepping down to return to the Indonesian Agency for Agricultural Research and Development. Succeeding him will be Kamarul Baharain bin Basir, a former director-general of the Malaysian Rubber Board.
ANRPC member nations include Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam, India, Sri Lanka, China, the Philippines and Cambodia. Together they account for 92 percent of world NR production, according to the association.