KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia—Malaysia rubber product exports are expected to reach $6 billion in 2020, 11.4 percent higher than last year, according to the latest figures from the Malaysian Rubber Board.
Growth is being driven by the country's glove industry, which is set to increase exports by 15 percent in 2020 to about $4.7 billion, MRB Director General Zairossani Mohd Nor said.
Meanwhile, exports from the dry rubber sector are expected to 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 about $1.1 billion due to low rubber price and stagnant global demand, the board leader also forecast.
Zairossani went on to point out that 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 about 550,000 tons.
The country's planted area last year arrived at 1 million hectares for smallholding and 73,000 hectares for rubber estates, representing a 1.3 percent and 5.2 percent annual drop rate, respectively, since 1990.