The Association of Natural Rubber Producing Countries (ANRPC) is happy to release the Natural Rubber Trends & Statistics August 2018.

From Secretary-General’s Desk

The world production of natural rubber rose 1.3%, year-over-year, to 8.510 million tonnes during the first eight months of 2018. On the other side, the world consumption rose faster at 5.5% to 9.342 million tonnes during the same period. The shortfall of 832,000 tonnes resulted from the mismatched growths in production and consumption helped to absorb a portion of the surplus accumulated in the previous years. 

The broad sentiments in the natural rubber market remain muted on account of a host of factors which include the high level of inventory held at the designated warehouses of the Shanghai Rubber Futures Exchange and the warehouses in the Qingdao Free Trade zone, and the seasonal factor favouring the supply. A few external factors have also kept sentiments down in natural rubber market. They include the rising concerns over the worsening China-US trade war and the sharp appreciation of the US dollar which resulted outflow of speculative funds from Asia. The currencies of the major NR-exporting countries suffered major setbacks against the US dollar during the past few weeks. 

The 11th ANRPC Annual Rubber Conference is being held on 8 October 2018 (Monday) in Chiang Rai Province of Thailand, hosted by the Rubber Authority of Thailand on behalf of the Government of Thailand.  The one-day event, organized with the theme “Adapting for the Emerging Megatrends”, will have around 300 invited participants from 20 countries. This annual event provides an international meeting point for the world rubber fraternity to deliberate on issues confronting the sector and identify appropriate policy measures. The esteemed subscribers of this publication who are interested to attend may get the relevant details at HERE . 

I am also happy to share with the esteemed users of this publication that the Republic of the Union of Myanmar has joined as a member of the ANRPC. The Department of Agriculture, functioning under the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Irrigation (MOALI) will be representing the government in the ANRPC. Myanmar has rubber cultivation in around 300,000 ha and the country annually produces around 275,000 tonnes of natural rubber of which around 150,000 tonnes are exported. Of the four auto-tyre manufacturing companies operated in the country, three are state-owned. The membership of Myanmar will make the statistical information of ANRPC much more inclusive and authentic.

The analysis and data given in this publication could help to closely understand the prevailing situation in the market and the emerging scenario. ANRPC owes a debt of gratitude to its statistical correspondents in the member countries and the esteemed users of this publication.


Dr. Nguyen Ngoc Bich
Secretary-General