KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 15 — Malaysia’s natural rubber (NR) production in August 2021 declined by 11.7 per cent to 42,942 tonnes compared with 48,610 tonnes in July this year, said the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM).
In its Monthly Rubber Statistics, Malaysia, August 2021 publication released today, the department said on a year-on-year (y-o-y) comparison, NR production in August 2021 decreased by 3.6 per cent against 44,543 tonnes in August 2020.
Chief statistician Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Uzir Mahidin said NR production in the country was mainly contributed by the smallholder sector (90.9 per cent) and the estate sector (9.1 per cent).
Stocks of NR increased 2.3 per cent in August 2021 to 287,380 tonnes compared with 280,844 tonnes in July 2021.
Rubber processing factory contributed 91.5 per cent of the stocks in August 2021 followed by rubber consumers factory (8.4 per cent) and rubber estates (0.1 per cent).
Meanwhile, he said NR exports amounted to 59,172 tonnes in August 2021, surging by 21.6 per cent against July 2021 (48,645 tonnes).
China remained as the main destination for natural rubber exports with a share of 43.7 per cent from total exports in August 2021, followed by the United States (9.0 per cent), France (8.4 per cent), Turkey (3.1 per cent), and Brazil (2.4 per cent).
“The performance at the national level was contributed by natural rubber-based products such as gloves, tyres, tube, rubber threads and condoms.
“Gloves were the main exports of rubber-based products with a value of RM3.8 billion in August 2021, a decrease of 1.4 per cent compared with RM3.9 billion in July 2021,” Mohd Uzir said.
Meanwhile, the average monthly price of latex concentrate recorded an increase of 5.6 per cent month-on-month (m-o-m) with August 2021 at 522.13 sen per kilogramme (kg) against July 2021 at 594.38 sen per kg, while scrap rubber or cuplump declined 7.7 per cent with August 2021 at 590.42 sen per kg and July 2021 at 548.25 sen per kg.
“A similar trend is also observed for all Standard Malaysian Rubber (SMR) which increased between 5.5 and 5.7 per cent.
“SMR 20 recorded the highest increase of 5.7 per cent (August 2021: 717.65 sen per kg, July 2021: 678.69 sen per kg),” he said.
Based on the movement of global prices as reported by the World Bank Commodity Price Data, Mohd Uzir said prices for TSR 20 and SGP/MYS type rubber increased 4.6 per cent from US$1.63 per kg to US$1.71 per kg (US$1=RM4.15) and 1.8 per cent from US$1.87 per kg to US$1.90 per kg, respectively.
He also noted that the performance of Malaysia’s NR production in the first eight months of 2021 decreased by 4.0 per cent as compared to the same period in 2020 (Jan-Aug 2021: 313,180 tonnes, Jan-Aug 2020: 326,194 tonnes).
Meanwhile, total NR exports recorded a significant increase in 2021 of 22.7 per cent compared with the same period last year (2020: -20.9 per cent).
This significant increase was in line with the improved economic outlook following the recovery in global trade and supply chains.
— Bernama
