THE production of natural rubber decreased by 33.5% year-on-year (y-o-y) to 23,013 tonnes in April 2021 compared with 34,616 tonnes in April last year, the Statistics Department said.

Chief statistician Dr Mohd Uzir Mahidin said this was due to the seasonal factor – wintering period – which causes the tree to be less productive.

He said month-on-month (m-o-m), the production of natural rubber fell by 36.2%.

“The stocks of natural rubber decreased 7.9% in April to 259,355 tonnes compared with 281,729 tonnes in March, with rubber processors accounting for 90.3%, followed by rubber consumer (9.6%) and rubber estates (0.1%).

“The decline in stocks was also influenced by factors at the supply level. Hence, the existing stocks was used to accommodate the reduction in production,” he said in a statement today.

Uzir said the average price of latex concentrate decreased to 623.40 sen per kg in April compared with 680.20 sen per kg recorded in the previous month, while the Standard Malaysian Rubber 20 (SMR 20) decreased from 707.89 sen per kg to 667.85 sen per kg for the same period.

The decline was due to concerns over the global rubber futures market, he said.

He said total domestic consumption for natural rubber increased 31.1% y-o-y to 47,096 tonnes – the highest recorded compared with the change in the first quarter of this year.

“The use of natural rubber in rubber glove manufacturing continues to lead with 34,716 tonnes or 73.7% of the total domestic consumption in April followed by rubber thread 4,198 tonnes (8.9%) and tyres and tube 3,588 tonnes (7.6%).

“The use of natural rubber in rubber glove manufacturing in April 2021 increased by 10.4% compared to 31,456 tonnes in April 2020,” he said.

On exports, Uzir said the offtake of Malaysia’s natural rubber declined 5.4% to 55,696 tonnes in April against 58,852 tonnes in March, with China still the main destination at 57.4%, followed by Germany (8.1%), the United States (3.9%), Turkey (2.6%) and Finland (2.4%).

“Rubber gloves was the main export item with an export value of RM6.7 billion in April 2021, an increase of 4.7% compared with March 2021 (RM6.4 billion).

“US was the highest importer of rubber gloves, followed by Germany and the United Kingdom,” he added. – Bernama, June 15, 2021.