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Rubber exports bounce along
Rubber exports soared in the first two months of this year due to high demand on the world market, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development said.
In January and February, exports jumped 38.2 per cent in volume to 106,000 tonnes, while the value doubled to US$467 million compared with the same period last year, the ministry said.
Nguyen Viet Chien, Director of the ministry's Centre of Informatic and Statistics, said rubber was a key export and that sales had grown considerably in recent years.
He said domestic exports would increase further this year due to declines in supply on the world market.
Reduced supplies would also boost the average export price from its current level of $4,403 per tonne, Chien said. The world rubber price is 75 per cent higher than the same period last year.
Major importers of Vietnamese rubber include India, the UK, Hong Kong and Malaysia, he said. The export value of rubber to those markets has recently increased. Mainland China is the biggest importer of Vietnamese rubber, accounting for 70 per cent of the total rubber export volume.
Total rubber exports were expected to reach 780,000 tonnes this year, worth $2.5-$2.7 billion, the Viet Nam Rubber Association said.
To boost sales, it said rubber producers should take advantage of the high export price to renew processing equipment and technologies to improve quality and reduce reliance on raw-material imports.
Enterprises should also promote their trademarks internationally by attending international expos, it said.
There are about 500 rubber exporters in Viet Nam.
Last year, Viet Nam exported 750,000 tonnes of rubber, worth $2.3 billion. Exports increased by 6.9 per cent in volume and 94.7 per cent in value compared with the previous year, the association said.
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