KUALA LUMPUR, May 14 (Xinhua) -- Malaysia's natural rubber production decreased by 18.8 percent to 95,059 tons as compared to 117,040 tons in the fourth quarter of 2024, official data showed Wednesday.
The Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM) said in a statement that the annual performance of Malaysia's natural rubber production in the first quarter recorded an increase of 9.3 percent as compared to 86,994 tons in the first quarter of 2024.
As for March, the country's natural rubber production decreased by 20.3 percent to 28,712 tons as compared to 36,005 tons in February.
Year-on-year comparison showed that the production of natural rubber increased by 6.5 percent from 26,966 tons a year ago.
Meanwhile, the total stocks of natural rubber in March increased by 4.1 percent month-on-month to 215,054 tons.
Exports of Malaysia's natural rubber amounted to 52,573 tons in March, decreased 4.1 percent month-on-month. China remained as the main destination for natural rubber exports which accounted 47.7 percent of total exports in March.
This was followed by Germany (8 percent), the United States (7.4 percent), the United Arab Emirates (6.3 percent) and Egypt (3.3 percent).
The exports performance was contributed by natural rubber-based product such as gloves, tires, tube and rubber thread.
Gloves were the main exports of rubber-based products with a value of 1.3 billion ringgit (300 million U.S. dollars) in March, an increase of 9.5 percent as compared to February. ■
