KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (Aug. 15, 2011)—Malaysia's production of natural rubber in June 2011 was higher than the same period last year, and higher than in May.
Production of natural rubber in the month was recorded at 84,208 metric tons, up by 12,551 metric tons (17.5 percent) compared to the previous month. Year-on-year comparison also shows an increase of 19 percent.
The largest contributor of total NR production was from the smallholding sector at 94.6 percent and the balance from the estate sector (5.4 percent). Kedah was the main producer of NR in estates (26.1 percent), followed by Negeri Sembilan (24.8 percent) and Pahang (14.4 percent).
Exports, however, declined. Total exports in the month reached 68,591 tons, a decrease of 12,577 tons from the previous month.
Total exports also declined by 3.8 percent compared to last year. Standard Malaysian Rubber was still the highest type of rubber exported at 64,876 tons (94.6 percent) of which 39.4 percent was from the SMR 20 grade.
NR exports were mainly to China (26.4 percent), followed by Germany (14.5 percent), Islamic Republic of Iran (5.6 percent), U.S. (5.3 percent), Republic of Korea (3.3 percent), Finland (3.2 percent), Turkey (3 percent), United Kingdom (2.9 percent), Brazil (2.8 percent) and France (2.8 percent).
Malaysia imported 45,954 tons of NR in June, a small increase of 154 tons when compared to the previous month.
Similarly, total imports also shrank when compared to the previous year (-7.5 percent). Almost half of the total NR imports (49.8 percent) consists of latex concentrate with a total of 22,875 tons.
The main supplier of NR to Malaysia were from Thailand totaling 30,448 tons (66.3 percent), followed by Vietnam (10.2 percent), Philippines (10.1 percent), Myanmar (2.6 percent) and Indonesia (1.7 percent).
Domestic consumption of NR in June 2011 also fell. Consumption in June dropped 1,783 tons (-5.5 percent) to 30,874 tons from the previous month. Similarly, when compared to the previous year, domestic consumption of NR also decreased by 5,088 tons (-14.1 percent).
The three industries consuming the highest NR were rubber gloves consumer (67.8 percent), followed by rubber thread (9.3 percent) and tires and tubes (8.5 percent). The consumption by these three industries accounted for more than three quarters of the overall domestic consumption in the country.
The average price of NR in the month was lower than in May, but higher than a year earlier. When compared with the previous month, the average price of latex concentrate reduced by 2.1 percent to while SMR 20 increased by 1.4 percent. However, year-on-year, the average prices of latex concentrate and SMR 20 were still strong with gains of 30.1 percent and 45.2 percent respectively.