PRODUCTION OF NATURAL RUBBER IN 2015 RECORDED AN ANNUAL GROWTH RATE OF -5.1 PER CENT AS COMPARED TO 2010

In 2015, the production of natural rubber was  722,122 tonnes as compared to  939,241 tonnes in 2010 with an annual growth rate of  -5.1 per cent.  Smallholding  sector  was  the  main  contributor  to  the  production of  natural  rubber  at  665,301 tonnes  or  92.1 per cent of the total production while  7.9 per cent was from estate sector.

Planted  area  in  2015  was  995,733 hectares. A large  portion of  rubber  planting  was  owned  by  smallholding  sector  of  919,901 hectares (92.4%) and  75,832 hectares (7.6%) was estate sector.

In 2015, exports of natural rubber was  706,501 tonnes as  compared  to  900,770 tonnes  in  2010  with  an  annual  growth  rate of  -4.7 per cent. Almost half of the natural rubber exported to China at  49.3 per cent. This was followed by Germany (12.8%), Iran (5.6%), U.S.A. (5.1%), Brazil (2.4%) and other countries (24.8%).

Malaysia imported natural rubber of  957,300 tonnes in 2015, mainly from Thailand (52.9%) and Viet Nam (19.7%).

Domestic consumption of natural rubber in 2015 was  474,773 tonnes. Rubber glove industry was the largest industry using natural rubber of  349,031 tonnes (73.5%).

The number of persons engaged in the estate sector increased by  1,499 persons to  12,056 persons in 2015 as compared to 2010 with an annual growth rate of  +2.7 per cent. The  total  salaries & wages  paid  to  workers  in  the  estate  sector  amounted  to  RM186.4 million in 2015.

Released By:

THE OFFICE OF CHIEF STATISTICIAN MALAYSIA
DEPARTMENT OF STATISTICS, MALAYSIA
30 November 2017

Contact person:
Ho Mei Kei
Public Relation Officer
Corporate and User Services Division
Department of Statistics, Malaysia
Tel : +603-8885 7942
Fax : +603-8888 9248
Email : mkho[at]stats.gov.my