Vietnam to rank world's 3rd biggest natural rubber producer in 2012

Vietnam will surpass Malaysia and rank the third worldwide in producing natural rubber in 2012, reported local newspaper Vietnam Economic Times on Tuesday quoting a source from the Association of Natural Rubber Producing Countries (ANRPC).
Vietnam's natural rubber output would reach 955,000 tons in 2012, an increase of 17 percent over last year and that will rank the country the third worldwide in natural rubber producing, said the report.
During the first three quarters of this year, Vietnam produced 930,000 tons of natural rubber, ranking fourth worldwide.
According to ANRPC, currently, natural rubber accounts for 42 percent, and synthetic rubber made from crude oil accounts for 58 percent, of the world's total rubber consumption. Meanwhile, demands of these products are increasing.
Vietnam exports natural rubber mostly as raw materials. Processed rubber exports account only 5-10 percent of the total rubber output.
According to the Vietnam Rubber Group, Vietnam yielded 811,600 tons of natural rubber from the previous 2010-2011 crops. The country exported 816,600 tons of rubber, earning $3.2 billion, up 4.4 percent in volume and 35.4 percent in value year- on-year. Rubber exports ranked the second (after rice) among the country's top-earning agricultural exports.
As the end of October this year in 2012, the country exported 818,000 tons of rubber, pocketing over 2.3 billion dollars, reported the Vietnam Rubber Group.