Market and product

(VEN) - The chairman of the board at the Vietnam Rubber Group (VRG), Le Quang Thung said that VRG fulfilled or exceeded most of its financial targets for the period from 2006-2010 while reaching an average growth of 25 percent per year, a total profit of VND24.8 trillion and a total asset value of VND45 trillion in this five-year period.

Chairman Le Quang Thung said that until 2010 rubber tree area in Vietnam totaled 312,800 hectares, and that more than 2,000ha of rubber was planted per annum from 2006-2010. The chairman said that the newly planted rubber area increased fast because VRG took the initiative in seeking capital for related projects.

Rubber development in the northwestern region and Cambodia is something new in the 2006-2010 rubber development plan. The group has been handed over about 100,000ha of rubber in Cambodia.

Rubber production output came to more than 300,000 tonnes per year from 2006-2009. It reached only 277,000 tonnes in 2010 because the exploitable rubber tree area decreased by about 14,000ha due to the cut of ineffective rubber fields.

In 2010, the price to export rubber was high and increased monthly. In December 2010, Vietnamese rubber was sold for almost VND100 million (US$5,000) per tonne. This price is expected to be unchanged until May 2011. There was rain in the southeastern region so rubber is expected to be exploited until February 2011 when the rubber price is expected to remain high.

In 2010, Vietnam sold 280,000 tonnes of rubber worth VND18 trillion, taking the rubber sector's total revenue to VND22 trillion including a profit of VND8 trillion (a 30 percent rate of profit per investment capital). Sector worker income improved considerably to reach more than VND6 million per month per capita on average.

VRG is planting 21,000ha of rubber trees in Laos, 4,000ha of which expected to be exploited to provide 4,000 tonnes of rubber for export in 2011. Rubber development in Laos is slower than that in Cambodia because VRG previously just planted rubber on red soil in Cambodia but it now grows rubber on grey soil apart from grey soil with good results there.

A number of northwestern provinces including Son La, Dien Bien and others grew rubber. Some localities succeeded while some others failed in this regard. The assessment of rubber development in northwest shows that Chinese rubber varieties grow well. Hoarfrost, which harms rubber trees, can now be controlled so rubber development in the region is expected to become more effective in the coming time. For a long-term efficiency, rubber development should be concentrated in areas where necessary conditions exist.

It's not yet time for Vietnam to develop small rubber plantations and rubber growers should be careful because they cannot be sure of having high quality saplings and sources of saplings are not yet well managed, Thung said./.