At a seminar on the future of the natural rubberprocessing industry, that opened in HCM City on Nov. 3, Thuan, whois also head of the Vietnam Rubber Industry Group (VRG), said Vietnamnow ranks fifth in the world in terms of rubber cultivation acreageand fourth in terms of natural rubber export volume.
Vietnam’s rubber has been exported to 39 countries, with Chinamaking up 60 percent of the country’s export volume, he added.
Secretary General of the International Rubber Study Group (IRSG) Dr S.Evans highlighted fierce competition between natural and synthetisedrubber industries, as natural supply has failed to meet demand.
There are big advantages as well as challenges to Vietnam and other natural rubber producers, he stressed.
The Ministry of Industry and Trade said that Vietnam’s naturalrubber output increased from 220,000 tonnes in 1996 to 550,000 tonnes in2007.
The nation exported almost 732,00 tonnes ofrubber in 2009 and is expected to ship abroad 750,000 tonnes this year,said the ministry.
Rubber is considered a plant ofthe national afforestation, hunger eradication and poverty reductionprogramme and its acreage is being expanded in northwestern and centralcoastal regions.
The country’s rubber sector isstriving to raise rubber acreage to 800,000 ha by 2015 and its output to1.2 million tonnes in 2020.
The nation’s rubberacreage is shrinking in traditional areas, said the VRG leader, addingthat the group has had to plant rubber in border areas and cooperatewith Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar and a number of African nations inrubber cultivation.
However, he said, families and localities are encouraged to raise other plants with higher economic value.
The group has committed to planting rubber trees together with preventing soil erosion and fighting floods, he said.
The two-day conference, the first of its kind in Vietnam being heldby the VRA and Malaysia, is a forum for domestic and foreignbusinesses to exchange information and experiences and seek investmentcooperation opportunities.
An exhibition of Vietnam-made tyres and rubber products is being held together with the conference./.