Natural rubber production falls 26.8% in November versus October

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia's natural rubber production fell 26.8 per cent to 31,577 tonnes last November compared with October’s 43,127 tonnes, said the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM).

In its November 2021 monthly rubber statistics publication released today, the department said on a year-on-year comparison, natural rubber declined by 25.8 per cent against 42,554 tonnes in November 2020.

Chief statistician Datuk Seri Mohd Uzir Mahidin said the decline in production was due to supply disruptions brought about by weather uncertainties and high rainfall.

"Total stocks of natural rubber decreased 4.2 per cent in November 2021 to 269,757 tonnes compared to 281,718 tonnes in October 2021.

"Rubber processing factories contributed 92.0 per cent of the stocks followed by rubber consumer factories (7.9 per cent) and rubber estates 0.1 per cent,” the department said in a statement.

November 2021’s production was mainly contributed by smallholders (89.8 per cent) and estates (10.2 per cent).

Mohd Uzir also noted that production in the first eleven months of 2021 totalled 429,062 tonnes versus 464,878 tonnes a year ago, which translates into a fall of 7.7 per cent.

Exports decreased by 2.0 per cent to 60,942 tonnes in November 2021 against 62,167 tonnes a month ago.

China continues to be the highest importer of natural rubber, taking up 44.6 per cent of total exports in November 2021, followed by the US (11.4 per cent), Germany (5.1 per cent), Iran (4.0 per cent), and Finland (3.7 per cent), said Mohd Uzir.

"The exports performance was contributed by natural rubber-based products such as gloves, tyres, tubes, rubber threads, and condoms.

"Gloves were the main rubber-based exports valued at RM2.5 billion in November 2021, a decrease of 4.9 per cent from RM2.6 billion in October," he added.

However, the average monthly price of latex concentrate rose 6.2 per cent month-on-month (m-o-m). It was 553.64 sen per kg in November against October’s 521.20 sen per kg.

A similar trend was also observed for all Standard Malaysian Rubber (SMR) which rose between 1.1 to 6.1 per cent, he said. - Bernama