BEIJING, China—Malaysia rubber product exports will reach $6.36 billion in 2020, 11.4 percent higher than last year, Malaysian Rubber Board figures show.
Growth is being driven by the country's glove industry, which is set to increase exports by 15 percent in 2020 to $4.94 billion, MRB director general Zairossani Mohd Nor said.
However, exports by the "dry rubber" sector will decline by 10 percent this year, Zairossani added in a presentation to a Chinese online conference in May.
The country's natural rubber exports will slump 10 percent to $1.18 billion due to low rubber prices and stagnant global demand, he said.
Zairossani said Malaysia had turned from a natural rubber producing country to a consuming country.
In 2019, Malaysian consumption stood at 974,000 metric tons, compared with 640,000 tons of production.
Annual production this year is forecast to dip 14 percent to 550,000 tons.
The country's planted area last year arrived at 3,800 square miles for smallholding and 2,800 square miles for rubber estates, representing a 1.3 percent and 5.2 percent annual drop rate, respectively, since 1990.