Malaysian NR production increased in July

ERJ staff report (DS)

Kuala Lumpur -- Malaysia's production of natural rubber (NR) increased to 100 281 tonnes in July 2011, up 23.7 percent year on year and up by 17.4 perent on the previous month. The smallholding sector contributed 94.5 per cent of the total NR production whilst the balance was from the estate sector (5.5 percent).The main producer of NR in estates for this month was Negeri Sembilan (24.6 percent),followed by Kedah (21.7 percent) and Pahang (15.9 percent).

Malaysia exported 57 334 tonnes of NR in July, down by 24 percent year-on-year and down by 16.4 prcent compared with June 2011. Of this total, exports of Standard Malaysian Rubber (SMR) totalled 54,681 tonnes of which 50.3 per cent was from the SMR 20 grade.

The main destinations of NR exports were to China (34.7 percent), followed by Germany (14.2 percent), Rep. of Korea (6.0 percent), US (5.0 percent),Belgium (2.8 percent), Portugal (2.4 percent), Islamic Rep. of Iran (2.4 percent), France (2.3 percent), Taiwan (2.3 percent) and Brazil (2.1 percent).

Imports fell compared to a year ago, but were higher than the June figure. With a total of 47,898 tonnes of NR in July 2011, imports were 16 percent down on the same month a year ago, but 4.4 percent higher than in June. More than half of the total NR imports (51.4 percent) consists of latex concentrate with a total of 24,624 tonnes.

NR was mainly imported from Thailand with a total of 32,407 tonnes (68.5 percent), followed by Viet Nam (11.4 percent), Philippines (7.3 percent), Indonesia (1.5 percent) and Myanmar (1.2 percent).

Domestic consumption of NR was recorded at 34,995 tonnes in July 2011, increased by 4,136 tonnes (+13.4 percent) compared to a month ago, whilst year-on-year comparison shows a decrease of 3,166 tonnes (-8.3 percent).

At the end of July 2011, the level of stocks of NR was recorded at 136,112 tonnes, went up by 14,179 tonnes (+11.6 percent) from the level of stocks of the previous month. Year-on-year comparison also shows an increase of 14.6 per cent. The biggest holder of NR stocks in Malaysia are the Rubber Processors (88.3 percent).

In July 2011, the overall average price of NR shows a decrease compared to the previous month. The average price of latex concentrate reduced by 48.86 sen (-5.3 percent) to 874.21 sen. The average price of SMR 20 also dropped by 12.26 sen (-0.9 percent) to 1,341.31 sen. However, compared to the same period last year, the average prices of latex concentrate and SMR 20 were still at a higher level with gains of 26.1 per cent and 46.6 per cent respectively .

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Press release from Malaysian Statistics Office