Kossan Rubber Industries Bhd has entered the Malaysia Book of Records for being the first glove manufacturer in the country to establish a strategic partnership with Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) for its Greening Value Chain (GVC) programme to help SMEs in decarbonisation.

Vietnam ranked fourth among the Republic of Korea (RoK)’s five largest suppliers of rubber, according to the Import-Export Department under the Ministry of Industry and Trade.

The Rubber Authority of Thailand (RAOT) is urging rubber farmers to generate income from the carbon market in a bid to comply with the European Union's Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM).

The value of Malaysia’s rubber exports dropped to RM35.99 billion in 2022 compared with RM71.01 billion in 2021, said Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Plantation and Commodities Datuk Seri Fadillah Yusof.

The initiative came into full effect recently, and forms part of Apollo Tyres’ Global Sustainability Strategy, currently applies to the supply of natural rubber to the company’s two European production facilities in the Netherlands and Hungary.

Siti Aminah said the government has always been concerned about the welfare of rubber smallholders whose income are affected when the price of rubber declines.

Vietnam exported approximately 469,632 tonnes of rubber worth US$653.22 million during the past four months of the year, down 3.2% in volume and 23.7% in value compared the same period from last year.

Rubber firms are facing mounting hardships driven by a lack of orders, high borrowing costs, and large tax refunds having yet to be paid to them.