Natural rubber production rose 4.7% in Sept

Malaysia’s natural rubber (NR) production increased by 4.7% to 32,773 tonnes in September from 31,309 tonnes in August, said the statistics department.

“However, for year-on-year (y-o-y), NR production decreased by 7.6% from 35,460 tonnes in September 2022,” Chief Statistician Uzir Mahidin said.

According to the Malaysia Rubber Board Digest, the rubber market sentiment in September was lifted by a rebound in Chinese manufacturing activity, the possibility of NR supply disruption in Thailand, rising expectations of the US interest rate hike, and the weaker ringgit against the US dollar.

Smallholders accounted for 85.6% of NR production, followed by estates at 14.4%.

“Total NR stocks in September 2023 increased by 7.7% to 154,103 tonnes from 143,116 tonnes in August 2023,” he said in a statement.

Uzir said rubber processors factory contributed 88.4% of the stocks, followed by rubber consumers factory (11.5%) and rubber estates (0.1%).

He noted that exports of Malaysia’s NR slid 0.8% month-on-month to 57,028 tonnes in September from 57,488 tonnes in August.

China remained the main destination for NR exports at 45.7% of total exports in September, followed by Germany (5.3%), Pakistan (5.3%), Portugal (2.9%) and Turkey (2.3%).

“The exports performance was contributed by NR-based products such as gloves, tyres, tubes, rubber thread, and condoms,” he said, noting that exports of gloves eased 3.6% to RM1.2 billion in September from RM1.3 billion in August.

According to the department, the average monthly price of concentrated latex rose 2.1% in September to 481.08 sen per kg from 471.09 sen per kg in August.

Meanwhile, scrap rubber increased by 13.8% to 525.59 sen per kg from 462.05 sen per kg in August.

It added that prices for all Standard Malaysian Rubber (SMR) increased between 2.1% and 11.3%.

Quarter-on-quarter, NR production increased by 19.6% to 92,615 tonnes in the third quarter of 2023 (Q3 2023) from 77,453 tonnes in Q2 2023, but y-o-y, the amount decreased by 16.5% compared to 110,969 tonnes in Q3 2022.

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