Inferior quality pushes down Myanmar rubber prices in global market

Myanmar’s rubber is underpriced in the global market owing to inferior quality that does not meet international standards, according to Mon State’s rubber market.
Myanmar’s rubber is priced lower than international market value as it fails to attract buyers and still cannot be produced to meet international standards, rubber producers stressed.
Only foreign partner companies have received the internationally recognized certificate that they can supply high international standards of rubber for the buyers. Myanmar’s rubber exporters build trust with those accredited companies to place Myanmar’s rubber in the global market.
The majority of the Myanmar rubber producers are working on a small scale and it is hard to maintain the quality with the raw material variability, rubber producers highlighted.
Furthermore, rubber farmers prioritize the domestic market and supply rubber varieties that are highly demanded locally. They eye short-term investment rather than long-term benefit.
Rubber is an industrial crop so a developing country like Myanmar needs to maintain its global market share. If Myanmar fails to produce rubber of international standard and meet demand, the global market share for Myanmar’s rubber will shrink for sure.
Myanmar must step up to ramp up production of high-grade rubber, ensure a state of uniformity and enter into long-term contracts to penetrate the global market, rubber processors emphasized.
Seventy per cent of rubber produced in Myanmar goes to China. It is also shipped to Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Viet Nam, the Republic of Korea, India, Japan and other countries.
Myanmar aims to export about 300,000 tonnes of rubber to foreign markets in the current financial year 2023-2024, according to Myanmar Rubber Planters and Producers Association.
The rubber production in the last FY 2022-2023 reached over 360,000 tonnes and more than 200,000 tonnes of rubber were shipped to foreign trade partners.
Rubber is commonly produced in Mon and Kayin states and Taninthayi, Bago, and Yangon regions in Myanmar. As per 2018-2019 rubber season data, there are over 1.628 million acres of rubber plantations in Myanmar, with Mon State accounting for 497,153 acres, followed by Taninthayi Region with 348,344 acres and Kayin State with 270,760 acres.
Myanmar bagged more than US$449 million in revenue in rubber exports in the financial year 2020-2021. — NN/EM