Malaysian rubber output up, exports drop

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The country's rubber production for January rose 21.5 percent from a year earlier while exports slipped 14.3 percent, the government said today.

Total rubber production surged to 54,936 tonnes in January, up 9,721 tonnes from the same month last year, the Statistics Department said in a statement.

Rubber exports, however, dipped 10,462 tonnes to 62,884 tonnes in the same period.

Germany, South Korea, the United States, China, France, Iran and Belgium jointly account for 54.8 percent of total exports.

As at end of January, natural rubber stocks stood at 206,963 tonnes, up by 15,363 tonnes from December.

The average price for rubber rose 10.24 percent from RM1.9847 a kilogram in December to RM2.033 in January.

Producers group

The number of people employed in Malaysia's rubber estates fell to 18,854, down nearly 26 percent from a year earlier.

Malaysia is the world's third largest rubber producer after Thailand and Indonesia.

Primary Industries Minister Lim Keng Yaik said Monday a Thai-based alliance of the three producers would begin operations in March to boost rubber prices.

The three countries formed the International Tripartite Rubber Organization in December to combat oversupply and low prices by cutting production by four percent each in 2002 and 2003 reducing exports by 10 percent. (AFP)



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