Rubber price on gradual rise

The price of rubber showed incremental growth in recent days, according to Mon State’s rubber market.
The price of rubber hit K1,190 per pound of sundried Local 3 and K1,210 per pound of Ribbed Smoked Sheet on 2 January. The prevailing prices have gradually increased to K1,320 per pound of sundried local 3 and K1,340 per pound of Ribbed Smoked Sheet Local 3.
The figures indicated an increase of K130 per pound within three weeks.
However, the current price has not met the high price of over K1,600 per pound recorded in the rubber tapping season in the third week of September 2022.
Global demand for rubber, rubber production of the Southeast Asian nations and the market supply are contributing factors to the rubber price condition of Myanmar
The rubber price in Mon State, a major rubber production state in Myanmar, is positively related to those factors as well, the traders elaborated.
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’s rubber production is annually 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 bagged more than US$449 million in revenue in rubber exports in the previous financial year 2020-2021.—NN/EMM