KL 5th largest rubber consumer

KL 5th largest rubber consumer

KUALA LUMPUR (AFP): Malaysia, once the world's top natural rubber producer, has emerged as the world's fifth largest consumer of the commodity as it focuses more on developing rubber-based products, officials said.

Domestic consumption of natural rubber in the country rose 8.5 percent to 291,249 tons in 1994 from 268,553 tons a year earlier, said Arshad Ayub, the president of the Malaysian Rubber Products Manufacturers Association.

"At this level of rubber utilization, the industry has almost achieved the consumption target of 300,000 tons of natural rubber a year, as set under the Industrial Master Plan," Arshad, referring to the country's industrial blueprint.

Manufacturers of rubber products use about 26 percent of the rubber produced in the country.

Malaysia, which produced 1.66 million tons at its peak in 1988, lost its century-long pole position in world natural rubber production in 1991 and is now the third largest producer after Thailand and Indonesia.

Its output fell to about one million tons in 1994, compared with Thailand's 1.55 million tons and Indonesia's production of 1.3 million tons.

Exports of rubber-based products rose by 12.2 percent to 3.35 billion ringgit in 1994 from 2.99 billion ringgit in 1993, Arshad said.

The industry, which is facing an acute labor crunch, has resorted to the use of foreign labor for the next five years to ease the shortage, Arshad said.