KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 15 — Malaysia’s natural rubber (NR) production increased 9.3 per cent month-on-month to 53,019 tonnes in November 2019, raising NR stockpile by 14.5 per cent to 216,414 tonnes amid lower exports and domestic consumption.

In a statement today, the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DoSM) said NR exports fell 6.2 per cent to 47,888 tonnes against October’s figure of 50,600 tonnes.

Total domestic consumption of NR also declined by 3.2 per cent to 40,631 tonnes from 41,989 tonnes in October.

Comparison year-on-year also showed an increase of 1.6 per cent in NR output from 52,174 tonnes in November 2018.

The country’s main export destination in November 2019 was China, which accounted for 46.7 per cent of total exports, followed by Germany (9.5 per cent), Finland (4.2 per cent), the United States (3.3 per cent) and Brazil (2.8 per cent), DoSM said.

The average price of latex concentrate was 440.55 sen per kilogramme in the month under review, up 3.5 per cent compared to October 2019.

"Similarly, the average the Standard Malaysian Rubber 20 (SMR20) price also increased by 5.5 per cent to 566.12 sen per kg for the same period,” it added.

DoSM said the rubber gloves industry was the main consumer of NR at 30,425 tonnes, or 74.9 per cent of the total NR domestic consumption. — Bernama