Japan's earthquake and tsunami pulls down Vietnamese rubber price

Vietnam rubber prices fell sharply after the earthquake and the tsunami in Japan on March 11, according to the Vietnam Rubber Group (VRG) on Wednesday.
The price was reduced to 85 million Vietnamese dong (U.S. $ 40.68 million) per ton following the earthquake and tsunami, compared to 120 million Vietnamese dong / ton (57.44 million U.S. dollars . UU.) March 10, said VRG.
Insiders held rubber importers ceased work due to some Japanese carmakers suspend production, despite the fact that Japan accounts for only seven percent of the demand for rubber worldwide total.
However, rubber prices increase again in the second quarter of the year when Japanese auto plants to restore their production, they said.
VRG asked the Vietnamese rubber exporters not to sell products in a chaotic situation.
According to VRG, in the first two months of 2011, Vietnam exported 121,000 tonnes of rubber worth U.S. $ 532 million, 157 percent in volume and 275 percent in value over the same period last year.
Rubber export prices made an album in late February to early March, with approximately U.S. $ 5,000 per ton, more than 75 percent from year to year. The main markets are India, Britain, Hong Kong China and Malaysia, including Malaysia in January alone imported U.S. $ 19.67 million worth of rubber from Vietnam, according to the Vietnamese Ministry of Industry and Commerce.
In 2010, Vietnam exported 783,000 tons of rubber worth U.S. $ 2.376 billion 39 countries, of which China accounted for 60 percent. Vietnam now ranks fifth worldwide in cultivated areas of rubber and fourth in the export of rubber, according to the Vietnam General Department of Customs.
In 2011, Vietnam expects to export around 760,000 tonnes of rubber worth nearly three billion U.S. dollars, VRG estimates.
World demand for rubber will be around 11.15 million tonnes in 2011, while rubber production will be 10.97 million tons, according to the Association of Natural Rubber Producing Countries.

(Source: http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/90001/90777/90851/7329833.html)