Production of natural rubber (NR) in February 2015 was recorded at 74,469 tonnes, decreased by 7,285 tonnes (-8.9%) from January 2015. Year-on-year comparison showed an increase of 1,041 tonnes (+1.4%). The smallholding sector contributes 92.6 per cent of the total NR production while the remaining is from   the   estate   sector. Month-on-month, both of smallholding and estate sectors recorded a decrease in production at 9.2 per cent and 4.7 per cent respectively.

Total exports of NR in February 2015 was 55,805  tonnes, dropped  by 13,660  tonnes  (-19.7%) from the previous month. The total exports also decreased by 25.0 per cent compared to February 2014. Standard Malaysian Rubber (S.M.R.) contributes 94.1 per cent from the total exports in which 59.1 per cent  comprised of S.M.R. 20.

The main destination for exports of NR is to People’s Rep. of China (44.6%), followed by Germany (14.4%), U.S.A. (7.1%), Islamic Rep. of Iran (4.6%), Brazil (4.1%), Finland (3.1%), Rep. of Korea (2.9%), Turkey (1.9%) and Portugal (1.7%). The total exports to these countries accounted for 84.4 per cent of the overall NR exports.

A total of 64,944 tonnes of NR was imported in February  2015,  dropped  by  31,187  tonnes    (-32.4%) from January 2015. Imports increased by 2.5 per cent when compared to a year ago. Latex Concentrate and Standard Rubber were the main type of NR imported, at 36.6 per cent and 30.7 per cent respectively.

Thailand and Viet Nam were the main supplier of NR at 60.1 per cent and 18.1 per cent respectively. These two countries accounted for 78.2 per  cent  of  the  total  imports of NR.

4.     DOMESTIC CONSUMPTION

In February 2015, the total domestic consumption of NR reduced by 3,804 tonnes (-10.0%) as compared to the previous month with total of 34,214 tonnes. However, the domestic consumption of NR increased by 960 tonnes (+2.9%) from a year ago.

The largerst NR consumer was from rubber gloves industry at 25,316 tonnes (74.0%), followed by rubber thread (9.2%) and tyre & tubes (7.0%). These three industries together consumed  30,859 tonnes (90.2%) of this month’s total NR.

The level of stocks in February 2015 was recorded at 206,388 tonnes. The stocks showed an increase of 19,343 tonnes (+10.3%) when compared to month-on-month. Nevertheless, the level of NR stocks decreased by 17,261 tonnes (-7.7%) when compared to the level of stocks a year ago.

Data  for February 2015 is provisional. The data will be updated based on the latest available figures and subsequently published in the March 2015 publication.