Malaysian NR production falls in March

ERJ staff report (DS)

Kuala Lumpur -- Natural rubber production shrank by 7.7 per cent to 64,932 tonnes in March 2011 when compared to a year ago, according to data from the Malaysian statistics office released on 12 May. Production was also lower than the previous month by 26,648 tonnes (-29.1 percent).

The main contributor to NR production was the smallholding sector at 95.4 per cent while the estate sector only contributed 4.6 per cent. The largest producer of NR in estates was Negeri Sembilan (23.0 percent), followed by Pahang (19.1 percent) and Kedah (18.2 percent).

Exports amounted to 111,020 tonnes, an increase of 19,324 tonnes (+21.1 percent) year-on-year and surged by 41,382 tonnes (+59.4 percent) compared to the previous month. . Standard Malaysian Rubber (S.M.R) dominated 95.9 per cent of total exports of which more than half was S.M.R. 20 (51.8 percent).

In March Malaysia exported more than half of its NR to China (53.6 percent) while other important destinations include Germany (7.0 percent), Republic of Korea (3.1 percent), United States of America (3.1 percent), Brazil (2.7 percent), Turkey (2.3 percent), Finland (2.0 percent), United Kingdom (1.9 percent) and Netherlands (1.9 percent).

Imports of NR recorded 58,833 tonnes in March 2011, an increase 11.3 per cent from a year ago and up by 4,750 tonnes (+8.8 percent) compared to the previous month. Latex concentrate was the main type of rubber imported and accounted for 51.5 per cent of total imports.

Year-on-year domestic consumption shrank 6,365 tonnes (-15.0 percent) to 36,161 tonnes. The figure was up by 5,351 tonnes (+17.4 percent) from the previous month.

At the end of March 2011, the level of stocks of NR held was 154,493 tonnes, a reduction of 36,072 tonnes (-18.9 percent) from the level of stocks of the previous month. The level of stocks held was also lower by 12,260 tonnes (-7.3 percent) when compared to the same month last year. Most of the stocks were held by Rubber Processors (89.0 percent).

The average price of NR which has been experiencing increases for 7 months took a reversal in March 2011 where the average price of latex concentrate decreased by 72.44 sen (-6.8 percent) to 987.09 sen and S.M.R. 20 by 243.28 sen (-14.5 percent) to 1,429.22 sen when compared to the previous month. Nevertheless, the average price of rubber was still high on a year-on-year comparison where the average price of latex concentrate rose by 34.4 per cent and S.M.R. 20 by 37.7 percent per cent.

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Press release from Malaysian Statistics Office