Sumatra rubber exports up

Sumatra rubber exports up

JAKARTA (JP): The value of North Sumatra's natural rubber
exports for the first seven months of this year increased 23.6
percent to US$29.3 million from US$ 23.7 million for the same
period last year, according to the province's bureau of
statistics.

The bureau said yesterday the province's natural rubber
exports rose to 16,410 tons in the January-July period from
14,370 tons for the corresponding period of 1995.

The province exports rubber to 11 countries including the
United States, Japan, South Korea, Singapore and the European
Union.

The United States is the province's biggest natural rubber
importer, buying 13.456 tons worth $24.7 million in the Jan-July
period.

North Sumatra, with 532,828 hectares of rubber plantations,
produced around 355,858 tons of natural rubber last year. (01)