Vietnam's rubber exports will slow down

Source: China Chemical Industry News February 14, 2019

In 2018, Vietnam's rubber exports amounted to approximately 1.58 million tons, with exports and exports increasing by 14.5% and 6.6% year-on-year, respectively. However, due to the declining purchasing power of the Chinese market, the country’s rubber exports will slow in the first quarter of 2019. Rubber export prices fell by 18% year-on-year to US$1335/ton.

Wu Huangying, secretary general of the Vietnam Rubber Association, said that in recent years, the rubber industry has been regarded as a key industry for Vietnam's economic development. Although it still faces many difficulties, the export volume of the three major products of natural rubber, rubber products and rubber wood has been increasing. He said that in 2017, rubber industry exports reached US$6.4 billion, a year-on-year increase of 32.9%, and accounted for 3% of the national export value of US$215.12 billion. This is a gratifying result, laying the foundation for the Vietnam rubber industry to continue to achieve growth in the next stage. However, in order to achieve sustainable growth in rubber exports, companies should take the initiative to expand the market and avoid over-reliance on the Chinese market.

Vietnam has become the fourth largest rubber producer in the world, with natural rubber cultivation and production area and output increasing steadily. And China is currently the world's largest consumer of natural rubber. However, due to the slowdown of China's economic growth, the Vietnamese rubber market environment is not optimistic. Market participants expect that in the first half of 2019, due to the slowdown of China's economic growth, Vietnam's rubber exports will also slow down.