HANOI, Nov. 13 (Xinhua) -- Vietnam gained nearly 1.8 billion U.S. dollars from exporting over 1.3 million tons of rubber in the first 10 months of this year, seeing respective year-on-year increases of 6.4 percent and 7.6 percent.
China was Vietnam's largest importer of rubber in the period, accounting for over 65 percent of the total value, tailed by India and South Korea, according to the General Department of Vietnam Customs on Wednesday.
In October alone, Vietnam exported 192,025 tons of rubber valued at 249.3 million U.S. dollars, up 27.3 percent in volume and 26.1 percent in value.
In the 10-month period, Vietnam also spent roughly 967 million U.S. dollars importing rubber, mainly from South Korea, Japan, and Cambodia, up 6.1 percent.
According to the Association of Natural Rubber Producing Countries, the world production of natural rubber in 2018 rose 4.6 percent on-year to nearly 14 million tons, while the world demand recorded an increase of 5.2 percent to over 14 million tons, resulting a deficit in supply of 57,000 tons of natural rubber.
By the end of 2018, Vietnam had 965,400 hectares of rubber trees, down 0.4 percent against late 2017, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.
