KUALA LUMPUR, Oct. 10 (Xinhua) -- Malaysia's natural rubber production decreased by 5.2 percent to 35,979 tons in August from 37,960 tons in July, official data showed Thursday.
Year-on-year comparison, however, showed that the production of natural rubber increased by 14.9 percent from 31,309 tons in August last year, the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM) said in a statement.
Meanwhile, total stocks of natural rubber in August fell by 13.7 percent month on month to 127,876 tons.
Exports of Malaysia's natural rubber amounted to 57,482 tons in August, up 19.2 percent as against July.
China remained the main destination for natural rubber exports, accounting for 25.8 percent of total exports in August. This was followed by the United Arab Emirates (20.1 percent), Germany (10.1 percent), the United States (9.6 percent) and India (8.3 percent).
The export performance was contributed by natural rubber-based products such as gloves, tires, tube and rubber thread. Gloves were the main exports of rubber-based products with a value of 1.6 billion ringgit (370 million U.S. dollars) in August, an increase of 14.6 percent from July. ■