Cambodia’s exports of rubber latex up 66 pet in Q1

PHNOM PENH, April 27 (Xinhua)—Cambodia has seen 66 percent rise in the exports of rubber latex in the first quarter of this year, compared with the same period last year, showed the figure from Cambodian Ministry of Commerce on Wednesday.

The figure recorded that from January to March this year, the country had exported a total 11,821 tons of rubber latex with the total revenues of 55 million U.S. dollars, up 66 percent from 7,129 tons with the revenues of 18 million U.S. dollars in the same quarter last year.

A ton of rubber latex is 5,450 U.S. dollars now, up from only 2,000 U.S. dollars at this time last year, Mok Kim Hong, the president of the Chub Rubber Plantation in Kampong Cham province, said on Wednesday.

“Soaring oil price is the main factor that fuels the rising price of rubber,” he said. “The price hike is an impetus for Cambodian farmers to plant more rubber trees.”

Cambodia’s rubber latex has been exported to Malaysia, Singapore, and China, and some European countries.

Currently, the country has 181,450 hectares of rubber plantations, most of them are young crops, which have not yet yielded.
Vietnam is the leading country investing in rubber plantations in Cambodia. It has received up to 100,000 hectares in land concessions in September 2009 from Cambodian government to grow this crop.
Rubber plantations are found grown mostly in the provinces of Mondulkiri, Ratanakiri, Kampong Cham, Kampong Thom, Kratie and Preah Vihear.