Natural rubber production increases 0.3 pct in April to 34,616 tonnes

KUALA LUMPUR: The monthly rubber census for April 2020 stated that the production of natural rubber increased 0.3 per cent in April 2020 to 34,616 tonnes compared to 34,506 tonnes in the previous month.

The report, released by the Department of Statistic Malaysia ( DOSM), stated that the year- on-year comparison also showed an increase of 2.0 per cent from the same month in the previous year.

Chief statistician Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Uzir Mahidin said exports of Malaysia’s natural rubber decreased by 10.2 per cent to 40,596 tonnes in April 2020 from 45,198 tonnes in March.

China remained the primary natural rubber export destination, with a

DOWN

share of 48.9 per cent from total exports in March followed by Germany (12.1 per cent), the United States (6.2 per cent), Iran ( 5.3 per cent), and Taiwan ( 3.5 per cent).

“The highest exports were for glove items valued at RM1,984.4 million in April, an increase of 11.6 per cent compared to March,” he told a media briefing on the monthly labour force and rubber statistics here, yesterday.

Mohd Uzir said that Malaysia’s exported the highest number of gloves to the US, accounting for 97,905 tonnes in April compared to 24,737 tonnes in March, an increase of 295.8 per cent, followed by China (28.8 per cent) and Germany (9.9 per cent), driven by high demand due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

“The average price of latex concentrate recorded a decline of 413.26 sen per kilogramme ( kg) in April compared to March (435.66 sen per kg). Standard Malaysian Rubber 20 (SMR 20) also dropped to 472.64 sen per kg compared to 517.45 sen per kg for the same period,” he said.

Mohd Uzair said the stocks of natural rubber continuously increased by 0.5 per cent from 319,486 tonnes in March to 321,214 tonnes in April.

“The manufacture of rubber gloves continued to dominate the natural rubber manufacturing industry with 35,080 tonnes or 89.5 per cent of the total domestic consumption ( 39,208 tonnes) in April,” he added. — Bernama

THE Malaysian rubber market ended mixed yesterday, tracking the downtrend in regional rubber futures markets, oil prices as well as natural rubber (NR) statistics released by the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM) yesterday which indicated a decrease in exports.

A dealer said fears of a second wave of Covid-19 infections in China and a spike in new cases in the US weighed on sentiment.

“Nevertheless, further losses were offset by a weaker ringgit against the US dollar,” he said.

According to DOSM in its Monthly Rubber Statistics released today, Malaysia’s NR production in April 2020 increased by 0.3 per cent to 34,616 tonnes from the previous month (34,506 tonnes).

Comparison year-on-year also showed an increase of 2.0 per cent as compared to the same month in the previous year.