KUALA LUMPUR, June 12 (Xinhua) -- Malaysia's natural rubber production decreased by 37.3 percent to 18,008 tons in April as compared to 28,739 tons in March, official data showed Thursday.
Year-on-year comparison showed that the production of natural rubber fell by 15.6 percent from 21,325 tons a year ago, the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM) said in a statement.
Meanwhile, total stocks of natural rubber in April declined by 6.7 percent to 203,728 tons as compared to 218,253 tons in March.
Exports of Malaysia's natural rubber amounted to 35,901 tons in April, decreased 31.7 percent as against 52,531 tons in March.
The export performance was contributed by natural rubber-based products such as gloves, tires, tube and rubber thread.
Gloves were the main exports of rubber-based products with a value of 1.1 billion ringgit (260,000 million U.S. dollars) in April, a decrease of 19.2 percent as compared to 1.3 billion ringgit in March.
Cited the Malaysia Rubber Board Digest published in April, DOSM said the Kuala Lumpur Rubber Market experienced mixed trends of declines and recovery throughout April, influenced by fluctuating signals from regional rubber futures markets in response to the uncertainties of the U.S. trade policies.
"Market sentiment remained subdued amid ongoing global economic uncertainties and escalating global trade tensions. Additionally, a stronger ringgit against the U.S. dollar and declining crude oil prices further weighed on sentiment," it said. (1 ringgit equals 0.24 U.S. dollar) ■
