Malaysia's NR production on the increase

ERJ staff report (DS)

Kuala Lumpur -- Malaysia's production of natural rubber (NR) in January 2010 reached 108,892, up by 48.4 percent (+35,524 tonnes) on the same month a year ago. . The smallholding sector was the main contributor at 94.8 percent while the balance of 5.2 percent was from the estate sector.

Exports in January 2010 totalled 69,549 tonnes, up by 40.6 percent on the figure from a year ago, but down by shrinking by 1.2 percent (- 820 tonnes) when compared to December 2009. The main export destinations for Malaysian NR were China (35.4 percent), Germany (10.5 percent), Iran (8.9 percent), Korea (6.8 percent), US (4.9 percent) and Brazil (3.8 percent). Standard Malaysian Rubber (SMR) continued to be the main type of rubber exported and accounted for 93.6 percent (65,122 tonnes) of total exports of which SMR 20 recorded the highest share of 58.3 percent among the SMR grades exported.

Imports of natural rubber also grew strongly on the year-ago figure, reaching 73,126 tonnes, an increase of 68.4 percent compared to January 2009, but a decrease of 10.8 percent when compared to December 2009. The main countries for imports were Thailand (71.3 percent), Philippines (6.5 percent), Myanmar (4.2 percent), Viet Nam (3.4 percent) and Indonesia (3.3 percent). Latex concentrate which accounted for 45.0 percent of total imports was the main type of rubber imported followed by Standard Rubber (17.6 percent) and Ribbed Smoked Sheets (8.1 percent).

Domestic consumption of NR grew by 19.0 percent (+6,528 tonnes to to 40,951 tonnes compared to the year-ago figure. This was almost identical to the December 2009 figure.

The average monthly price of latex concentrate in January 2010 was 657.25 sen, an increase of 12.0 percent when compared to December 2009. When compared year-on-year, the price of latex rose sharply by 70.6 percent. Similarly, the price of SMR 20 also showed a similar pattern, increasing by 7.4 percent to 994.38 sen when compared to December 2009 while year-on-year comparison reflected a substantial increase of 98.5 percent. This is the highest price level since August 2008.

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Official Statistics from Malaysian Statistics office