Metallurgy / Chemicals / Rubber & Plastics

According to Thai media reports, the Ministry of Commerce of Thailand recently said that in the first five months of 2021, Thailand's rubber exports increased by more than 50% year-on-year. The export volume was 70.34 billion baht, an increase of 50.8% over 46.65 billion baht in the same period last year. The export volume increased to 1.39 million tons from 1.17 million tons in the same period last year.

Lakchai kittipol, honorary president of the Thai Rubber Association, revealed that the substantial growth of rubber exports was due to the low export base last year. He said that the global economy began to recover and orders in many countries were increasing.

He said that this year's rubber export price is higher than last year. Exports continued to expand, but the growth rate slowed down because trading partners had purchased some stocks.

He said that this year's rubber export volume should be close to last year, because Thailand's rubber production is still small. During this period, rain also hindered production. Due to the spread of COVID-19, foreign workers were unable to enter.

Due to the improvement of the global economy over last year, rubber exports are expected to increase by at least 25% (with a total value of 136.125 billion baht) this year.

The top five export markets of Thai rubber are China, Malaysia, Japan, the United States and South Korea. All markets have seen double-digit growth. In the first five months of this year, the Chinese market grew by 33%, Malaysia by 61%, Japan by 82%, the United States by 52% and South Korea by 36%.