Malaysia’s natural rubber production decreased 13.7 percent to 23,460 tons in April as compared to 27,188 tons in March, official data showed on Thursday.
The Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM) said in a statement that year-on-year comparison showed that the production of natural rubber increased 3.4 percent from 22,695 tons a year ago.
Production of natural rubber in April for Malaysia was mainly contributed by the smallholders sector (87.7 percent) as compared to estates sector (12.3 percent).
Meanwhile, total stocks of natural rubber for the month dropped 4.5 percent to 194,527 tons as compared to 203,757 tons in March.
Exports of Malaysia’s natural rubber amounted to 37,728 tons in April, plunging 17.6 percent as against 45,789 tons in March.
China remained as the main destination for natural rubber exports, which accounted for 48.4 percent of total exports in April.
This was followed by Germany (11.7 percent), Pakistan (5.6 percent), Türkiye (3.9 percent) and Portugal (3.3 percent).
The export performance was contributed by natural rubber-based products such as gloves, tyre, tube, rubber thread and condom.
Gloves were the main exports of rubber-based products with a value of 800 million ringgit (173 million U.S. dollars) in April, a decrease of 32.6 percent as compared to 1.2 billion ringgit (260 million U.S. dollars) in March.
Citing the Malaysia Rubber Board Digest, the DOSM said the positive sentiment of Kuala Lumpur rubber market was boosted by factors which include optimism in China’s economic recovery with its supportive policies, a decline in local natural rubber production, gains in oil prices and encouraging global growth outlook reported by the World Bank, as well as the ringgit remained weak against the U.S. dollar.