Vietnam becomes fourth largest rubber exporter worldwide

Vietnam has become the fourth biggest rubber exporter worldwide, according to Vietnam's Rubber Association (VRA) on Monday.

The association said on its website that Vietnam's rubber has been exported to 70 foreign markets, with China accounting for 55 percent to 60 percent of the total export volume.

Vietnamese rubber makes up 11.1 percent of the international market share, said the association. In 2013, Vietnam exported over 1 million tons of rubber, worth 2.49 billion U.S. dollars.

However, the country's rubber industry is facing difficulties as the export volume and value in the first six months of 2014 saw decline due to falling prices, which led some farmers to cut down rubber trees for other plants.

During the January-June period, Vietnam's rubber exports fell 10.7 percent in volume and 32.3 percent in value as compared with the year-earlier period.

In the first five months, rubber export price fell by 22.1 percent from the same period last year to 1,842 U.S. dollars per ton.

According to statistics by Vietnam's Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, during the six-month period, around 0.4 percent of rubber growing area was destroyed.

In the past 10 years, the country's rubber growing area doubled from 454,000 hectares in 2004 to 955,000 hectares in 2013. Rubber output in 2013 reached 959,000 tons, an increase of 34.4 percent over 2009 with an annual average growth of 6.9 percent, said the VRA.

Vietnam's rubber sector has set an annual growth target of 10 percent by 2020.