Rubber export value bounces back  (21-10-2009)
Rubber prices have reached their highest level so far this year and are currently at around US$2,000 per tonne, an increase of $200 over the average price in September, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development..

Due to lower prices earlier in the year, the average price of rubber over the first nine months of 2009 was just $1,500 per tonne, about $1,238 per tonne lower than in the same period of 2008.

"The global economy is recovering so demand from rubber from major markets such as China, the US, Japan and the EU has increased," said Viet Nam Rubber Association general secretary Tran Thi Thuy Hoa.

Viet Nam exported about 490,000 tonnes of rubber in the first nine months of the year, worth a total of $734 million, an increase of 7 per cent in volume but a decline of 41 per cent in value from the same period last year.

Global supplies overall were limited, Hoa said, with production from the three leading rubber-producing countries, Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia, down by 6.2 per cent. Total global rubber production in 2009 was predicted to reach just 9.3 million tonnes, 700,000 tonnes less than in 2008.

Within just the past four years, rubber has grown to be a key export product for Viet Nam, which now is exporting rubber to over 70 countries worldwide, although China still buys up 60-65 per cent of the nation’s rubber exports. This year, rubber companies have projected they would export 700,000 tonnes, for an export value of over $1 billion, a significant decline from last year’s $1.59 billion export turnover.

(Source: VNS)