31 Table 7 Area Harvested, Production and Productivity of Natural Rubber in
Malaysia, 2003 -2012 Year
Area Harvested Hectare
Production Quantity Tonnes
Productivity TonnesHectare
2003 1315000
985600 0.750
2004 1275000
1168700 0.917
2005 1237000
1126000 0.910
2006 1251000
1283600 1.026
2007 1248000
1199600 0.961
2008 1247000
1072400 0.860
2009 1058000
857019 0.810
2010 1112000
900000 0.809
2011 1136000
926000 0.815
2012 1200000
970000 0.808
Source: Author’s elaboration with data from FAO, 2013
5.3 The Balance of Natural Rubber Production and Consumption
Total production of natural rubber in the three major exporting countries Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia is much greater than their domestic
consumption. The production of natural rubber from these three countries that is exported is more than that which is absorbed by their domestic market. In 2012,
the total consumption of Thailand natural rubber accounted for only 14 percent of the total production and Indonesia with only 15 percent, while Malaysia was
slightly higher at 46 percent Figures 11, 12, 13. The low domestic consumption in Indonesia and Thailand was primarily due to underdeveloped downstream
industries such as the natural rubber-based tire industry, automotive, gloves and other industries that require raw materials of natural rubber.
On the contrary, Malaysian natural rubber production in 2011 amounted to 926,000 tons compared with 900,000 tons in 2010. The domestic consumption of
natural rubber for 2011 was 401,923 tons. The natural rubber consuming industries of importance in 2011 were latex products 80.3, tires 9.2,
general rubber products 7.2, industrial rubber products 3.2 and others 0.2. The rapid growth of these industries has enabled Malaysia to become the
worlds largest consumer of natural rubber latex. This sub-sector accounted for 81 percent of the total value of rubber exports, which was largely contributed to by
gloves, catheters and latex threads. At the same time, Malaysia continued to maintain its position as the worlds leading producer and exporter of catheters,
latex threads and natural rubber medical gloves Malaysian Rubber Board, 2014.
32
Figure 11 Production, Consumption and Export of Natural Rubber in Thailand, 2003 – 2012
Source: Author’s elaboration with data from FAO, 2013; UNCOMTRADE, 2014; IRSG 2014
The production surplus of natural rubber produced in Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia are exported to other countries. As these three countries have an
extensive production surplus, they have become the largest natural rubber exporting countries in the world. Thailand’s greatest total exports occurred in
2003, with numbers that were much higher than exports in the years thereafter. The falling trend in Thailand’s exports since 2003 is due to the intense
competition with the supply of natural rubber from Indonesia Figure 11
Figure 12 Production, Consumption and Export of Natural Rubber in Indonesia, 2003 – 2012
Source: Author’s elaboration with data from FAO, 2013; UNCOMTRADE, 2014; IRSG 2014
1000000 2000000
3000000 4000000
Ton n
es
Year
Production Quantity Tonnes
Consumption Tonnes
Export Tonnes
500000 1000000
1500000 2000000
2500000 3000000
3500000
Ton n
es
Year
Production Quantity
Tonnes
Consumption Tonnes
