Thai Rubber Production Up 1.8% Year on Year

BANGKOK (NNT) - Thailand is expected to produce 4.9 million tonnes of natural rubber in 2022, up 1.82% from a year earlier.

The Kingdom is the world’s top producer and exporter of natural rubber, accounting for about a third of global rubber production each year.

Athiwee Dangkanit, an official at the Rubber Authority of Thailand, said the country also expects to export about 4.22 million tonnes of it this year, 2% more than in 2021.

She said rubber exports will be supported by growing demand for rubber in the global automobile industry and for rubber medical gloves, the use of which has increased during the pandemic.

Athiwee added that lower rubber inventories in Qingdao, a major port for rubber imports in eastern China, provided an opportunity to export more Thai rubber. Inventories there fell significantly in 2021 due to delayed shipments and high transport cost.

In 2021, Thailand produced nearly 4.82 million tonnes of natural rubber and exported 4.13 million tonnes.