Written on 18.10.2013 - Industry
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VIETNAM: Rubber exports stretch to fetch USD 4.5 billion in 2013

The rubber industry expects to bring home USD 4.5 billion in export this year, according to Tran Thi Thuy Hoa, General Secretary of the Viet Nam Rubber Association (VRA). Hoa said that last year the sector's total export value reached USD 4.26 billion. Overall, rubber ranked eighth among the country's export staples after garment and textiles, telephones, crude oil, electronic products, footwear, seafood and machinery.

She said that the increasing global rubber demand in recent years encouraged Viet Nam to expand its rubber farming to increase export value and improve the socio-economic situation in many localities. As a result, Viet Nam had become the fifth biggest natural rubber producer in the world with 910,500 ha of land dedicated to rubber trees, producing 836,600 tonnes of rubber in 2012, she said.

Hoa added that the country also ranked fourth in terms of the amount of natural rubber for export, which accounted for 10.6 % of the market share in 2012.

Market difficulties had arisen this year due to the insufficient recovery of the global economy, the increase of world supply and the growing amount of competition, Hoa noted.

For a sustainable rubber export strategy, she said the VRA was working with the Trade Promotion Department of the Ministry of Industry and Trade to rebuild a trade attraction programme with more focus.

It was also encouraging companies to exchange information on price, consumption and market situation to create a suitable trading plan.

Rubber companies, for their part, should improve product quality to meet the demand for export, Hoa said, adding that the VRA was planning to establish a rubber trading floor in 2015 to ensure transparent prices for both the buyers and the sellers.

Source: Daily "Vietnam News", Hanoi; 7 Oct 2013

(Syed Rashid Ali, Karachi, Pakistan)