KUALA LUMPUR, March 14 (Xinhua) -- Malaysia's natural rubber production decreased by 3.6 percent to 29,451 tonnes in January from 30,556 tonnes in December, 2022, official data showed Tuesday.
Year-on-year comparison showed that the production of natural rubber plunged 39.3 percent from 48,546 tonnes in January last year, the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM) said in a statement.
According to the DOSM, exports of Malaysia's natural rubber amounted to 40,867 tonnes in January, which fell 16.3 percent as against 48,797 tonnes in December 2022.
China remained the main destination for natural rubber exports which accounted for 41.2 percent of total exports in January, followed by Türkiye (5.4 percent), Germany (5.1 percent), the United States (3.6 percent) and Brazil (2.7 percent).
The export performance was contributed by natural rubber-based products such as gloves, tires, tubes, rubber threads and condoms.
Gloves were the main exports of rubber-based products with the value declining by 14 percent month on month to 900 million ringgit (200.85 million U.S. dollars) in January 2023.
Meanwhile, total stocks of natural rubber in January slipped 3.4 percent to 194,553 tonnes as compared to 201,360 tonnes in December 2022. ■