The price of rubber has increased at a slow pace, reaching over K1,700 per pound in Mon State’s rubber market.
The prices hit K1,780 per pound of Ribbed Smoked Sheet Local 3 and K1,760 for sun-dried rubber on 18 March. The prices stood at only K1,640 per pound for sundried rubber and K1,660 for RSS Local 3 in early March.
The figures indicated an increase of K120 per pound in the past two weeks.
Myanmar’s rubber prices are influenced by Global demand for rubber, rubber production in Southeast Asian nations and the market supply.
The rubber price in Mon State, a significant rubber production state in Myanmar, is closely tied to those factors as well, the traders elaborated.
Myanmar’s annual rubber production is estimated at 300,000 tonnes. Seventy per cent of rubber produced in Myanmar goes to China. It is also shipped to Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Viet Nam, the Republic of Korea, India, Japan, and other countries.
Myanmar Rubber Planters and Producers Association aims to achieve rubber exports of 300,000 tonnes in the current 2023-2024 financial year beginning 1 April. Myanmar shipped 114,855 tonnes of rubber with an estimated value of US$144.046 million as of 29 December in the current financial year 2023-2024.
The rubber production in the last FY 2022-2023 reached over 360,000 tonnes, and more than 200,000 tonnes of rubber were shipped to foreign trade partners.
Rubber is commonly produced in Mon and Kayin states and Taninthayi, Bago, and Yangon regions in Myanmar. As per 2018-2019 rubber season data, there are over 1.628 million acres of rubber plantations in Myanmar, with Mon State accounting for 497,153 acres, followed by Taninthayi Region with 348,344 acres and Kayin State with 270,760 acres.
Myanmar generated more than $449.102 million in revenue in rubber exports in the 2020-2021 FY. — NN/EM
