Nghe An farmers excited as rubber prices hit new high

Rubber price increase steadily

In the early days of spring, in Tan Long and Tan Ky communes, people are actively exploiting rubber latex. Ms. Le Thi Lan, a rubber garden owner in Tan Long commune, said: Her family currently has over 2 hectares of rubber, and in 2023, there were times when they had to stop exploiting because the price was too cheap. However, from July 2024 until now, the price of rubber latex has suddenly increased continuously, from the price of latex only reaching 13,000-15,000 VND/kg (fresh latex through rolling), it has now increased from 23,000-25,000 VND/kg, the price has reached the peak of the golden age like before.

Mr. Nguyen Quoc Mao - Deputy Director of Song Con Agriculture Joint Stock Company said: The unit currently has over 700 hectares of rubber (of over 1,000 rubber-growing households), mainly concentrated in Tan Phu and Tan Long communes. Previously, due to low prices, the unit only purchased 10-15 tons of latex/month. Because latex tapping was not enough to pay for labor costs, people stopped tapping, even asked to switch from rubber trees to other crops such as sugarcane, acacia, etc.

Currently, the price of rubber latex is high but stable for a long time, so local rubber growers are very excited, thereby boldly taking care of and fertilizing to bring high crop productivity. In recent days, the factory has been operating at full capacity, reaching nearly 70 tons of latex/month. It is expected that in 2025, the processing company will consume 400 tons of finished rubber products (an increase of 160 tons compared to last year).

In Nghia Dan district, people are actively finishing the rubber latex exploitation season. Mr. Tran Van Tinh in Nghia Minh commune said: His family grows nearly 2.5 hectares of rubber, with the current high latex price, the income is 55-60 million VND/ha. However, people really hope that rubber prices will increase but need stability to have more income to improve their lives.

Mr. Hoang Thanh Tung - General Director of Nghe An Coffee - Rubber Company Limited said: The company has over 1,800 hectares of rubber mainly concentrated in Nghia Dan district and Thai Hoa town. Previously, the price was low but in the past 8 months, the price of rubber has increased and stabilized.

The processing plant reaches over 300 tons/month (producing over 1,200 tons of finished rubber). Production is sold out.

With such high prices of rubber latex, rubber growers have made a profit and are assured to take care of their gardens. Accordingly, Nghe An Coffee - Rubber Company Limited has directed technical staff to guide, inspect and supervise the latex tapping process, and advised people to focus on taking care of rubber gardens during and after harvest.

According to research, at the end of 2024 and the beginning of 2025, there were times when rubber was "out of stock" and some traders came to Nghe An to compete to buy goods. Mr. Nguyen Van Thuat - Chairman of the Board of Directors of 1/5 LLC (Nghia Dan) said: The unit has a rubber processing factory, but because the raw material area is too small, it cannot meet the needs of the rubber latex processing factory, so we have to buy rubber latex in Thanh Hoa province and other provinces at a higher price. However, it is still difficult to buy because many other traders come to compete, so this year the processing output is low, only 500 tons of finished rubber.

Need to invest in rubber latex deep processing factory

Nghe An currently has over 10,000 hectares of rubber, mainly concentrated in the districts of Anh Son, Nghia Dan, Tan Ky, Que Phong, producing about 6,500 tons of processed rubber annually. Although rubber prices in Nghe An are increasing, there are still limitations, such as most of the machinery systems of rubber processing factories are too old, the machinery is old and outdated, so the product quality is not high.

Some rubber shipments were returned when exported to other countries due to impurities. Most of the latex products purchased by traders are processed at modern rubber processing factories in Quang Tri, Binh Duong, etc. After processing and classification, they are often exported to Europe, so the price is higher. After processing, they can be sold at a price higher than 36,000 VND/kg.

Therefore, in order for rubber trees to develop effectively, in addition to focusing on intensive cultivation and improving the efficiency of existing gardens, Nghe An needs to attract investment projects in specialized rubber latex processing technology lines, improving the quality and products of latex; priority should be given to building a large-scale factory to purchase and process raw latex for the whole province.