KUALA LUMPUR – Malaysia’s natural rubber (NR) production decreased by 20% to 22,498 tonnes in April 2022 compared with 28,106 tonnes in March, said the Statistics Department (DoSM).
In a statement, the department said NR production eased by 2.2% year-on-year from 23,013 tonnes in April 2021.
Chief statistician Datuk Seri Mohd Uzir Mahidin said the production of the commodity in April 2022 was mainly contributed by the smallholders sector (88.1%) compared with the estates sector (11.9%).
Total stocks of NR in April 2022 decreased by 4.1% to 297,673 tonnes against 310,433 tonnes in March 2022, he said.
“Rubber processors factories contributed 92.5% of the stocks, followed by rubber consumers factories (7.4%), and rubber estates (0.1%),” he said.
Meanwhile, Uzir said exports of Malaysia’s NR amounted to 58,755 tonnes in April 2022, an increase of 10.2% against 53,328 tonnes in March 2022.
“China remained the main destination for NR exports, accounting for 39.7% of total exports in April 2022, followed by the United States (11.3%), Finland (4.5%), Egypt (3.2%), and Iran (2.5%),” he said.
The exports performance was contributed by NR-based products such as gloves, tyres, tubes, rubber thread, and condoms.
He said that gloves were the main exports of rubber-based products with a value of RM2.2 billion in April 2022, up 8.6% from RM2 billion recorded in March 2022.
Uzir said the bearish sentiments that hit the rubber market were contributed by losses in the regional rubber future markets amid slowdown fears over China’s stringent Covid-19 lockdowns, the persistent Russia-Ukraine conflict, ongoing global chip shortage, and inflationary pressure as elaborated in the Malaysian Rubber Board Digest published in April 2022. – Bernama, June 15, 2022
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