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Vietnam's rubber export remains flat in first half
4/7/2005 15:07

Vietnam exported 176,000 tons of rubber worth US$210 million in the first half of this year, down 0.5 percent in volume but up 1.9 percent in value against the same period last year.
Thinner domestic supplies, partly caused by prolonged droughts, has made Vietnamese enterprises fail to meet increasing demand from their major customers from China, the United States and South Korea, according to the Vietnam Rubber Association on Monday.
Vietnam is expected to ship abroad 400,000 tons of rubber valued at US$600 million this year, the association said, noting that the country exported 495,000 tons of the product worth US$579 million to 46 countries and regions, mainly China, South Korea and Germany, last year.
The country plans to increase its rubber tree acreage to 700, 000 hectares with dried latex output of some 520,000 tons in 2010 from current 500,000 hectares, and build more rubber processing plants in the coming years.
Besides growing more rubber trees in the central highlands region, the southeastern region and some remote areas, Vietnam will intensify investment in raising productivity of existing rubber plantations, renovating ways of collecting latex, and building new processing plants adjacent to material zones, the association noted.



Xinhua