Malaysia's March natural rubber production falls 16.2 pct month-on-month

Malaysia's natural rubber production slumped 16.2 percent month-on-month to 49,465 tonnes in March, official data showed Monday.

Malaysian Statistics Department said in a statement that the production rose 6.6 percent year-on-year as compared to March last year.

Malaysia's natural rubber exports jumped 29.6 percent month-on-month to 53,265 tonnes in March, led by exports to China, where accounted for 43.2 percent of the total exports.

Other main exports markets included Germany where made up of 12 percent of the total exports and Finland that accounted for 7.8 percent. The United States and Turkey made up 4.8 percent and 4 percent of the total exports, respectively.

Stocks of natural rubber recorded at the end of March dropped 6 percent month-on-month to 201,792 tonnes.

Total domestic consumption of natural rubber in March stood at 43,770 tonnes, an increase of 9.1 percent against 40,121 tonnes as reported in February.

Natural rubber is widely used in the manufacturing of rubber glove industry with a consumption of 32,848 tonnes or 75 percent of the total domestic consumption.