KUALA LUMPUR, Dec. 14 (Xinhua) -- Malaysia's natural rubber production decreased by 10.3 percent to 31,795 tons in October from 35,460 tons in September, official data showed Wednesday.
The Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM) said in a statement that the year-on-year comparison showed that the production of natural rubber fell 26.3 percent from 43,127 tons a year ago.
Meanwhile, exports of Malaysia's natural rubber amounted to 41,548 tons in October, declined 23.8 percent as against 54,542 tons in September.
China remained as the main destination for the country's natural rubber exports, which accounted for 56.2 percent of total exports in October, followed by Germany (8.2 percent), Brazil (3.3 percent), Finland (3.2 percent) and Iran (3 percent).
According to the DOSM, the export performance was contributed by natural rubber-based products such as gloves, tyres, tubes and rubber threads.
Gloves were the main exports of rubber-based products with a value of 1.1 billion ringgit (249 million U.S. dollars) in October, a decrease of 13.2 percent as compared to 1.3 billion ringgit (294.5 million dollars) in September.
Total stocks of natural rubber in October, on the other hand, slipped 0.3 percent to 198,122 tons as compared to 198,706 tons in September. ■