Rubber prices

Hanoi (VNA) – Rubber prices have reached their highest level so far this
year and are currently at around 2,000 USD per tonne, an increase of 200 USD
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 USD per tonne, about 1,238 USD 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 Vietnam Rubber
Association general secretary Tran Thi Thuy Hoa.

Vietnam exported about 490,000 tonnes of rubber in the first nine months of
the year, worth a total of 734 millionUSD , an increase of 7 percent in volume
but a decline of 41 percent 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 percent. 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 Vietnam , which now is exporting rubber to over 70 countries worldwide,
although China still buys up 60-65 percent of the nation’s rubber
exports. This year, rubber companies have projected they would export
700,000 tonnes for an exportvalue of over 1 billion USD, a significant
decline from last year’s 1.59 USD billion export turnover.-Enditem