Nghe An rubber growers excited as 'white gold' price increases
(Baonghean.vn) - Rubber prices have unexpectedly increased after many years of sharp decline, helping to improve the income of rubber growers in Nghe An.
From November 2023 to now, rubber latex prices have suddenly increased, farmers are excited when output gradually stabilizes.
Present at the rubber forest in Tan Phu commune, Tan Ky district, we saw that farmers had tapped rubber latex again. Mr. Nguyen Minh - a farmer in Tan Phu commune, who grows over 1 hectare of rubber, shared: For many years, there were times when rubber latex hit rock bottom at only 13,000 VND/kg, the revenue was not enough to cover the investment capital. But for more than a month now, the price has increased to 16,500-19,000 VND/kg, although it has increased slightly, we are excited because we have more money to take care of the garden as well as cover family expenses.
A representative of Song Con Agricultural Joint Stock Company said: Due to the difficulty in selling the output, there were times when the unit only had 150/600 hectares of rubber and had to stop tapping latex. However, for nearly 2 months now, rubber latex prices have increased slightly, over 100 tons of rubber remaining since the beginning of 2023 have been sold out. Currently, the unit has purchased 45-50 tons of rubber latex/month for the raw material areas of Tan Phu and Tan Long communes. The reason for the price increase is that the Chinese market has now imported rubber. We are hoping to return to the golden age of reaching a price of 23,000 VND/kg of latex.
At the same time, the rubber latex processing factory of Nghe An Coffee - Rubber One Member Limited Liability Company (Thai Hoa town) was quite busy. Mr. Hoang Thanh Tung - Deputy General Director of the company said: Previously, due to difficult consumption, the factory only operated at a moderate level, processing 50 tons/month; in the past 2 months, rubber prices have increased, so the factory has processed 280 tons/month (reaching over 90% of capacity).
The price of mixed latex purchased for the raw material area is 17,000 VND/kg (an increase of 3,000 - 4,000 VND/kg compared to before). The price of finished rubber (processed) for sale was previously only 26-27 million VND/ton, now the price has increased to 30 million VND/ton, so there is a profit. Currently, over 1,800 hectares of rubber are mostly being exploited for latex, the current rubber market is mainly consumed domestically and in China.
Although rubber prices have increased, there are still other difficulties such as most of the processing lines and equipment of factories in Nghe An are still outdated, so the processed rubber products do not meet export standards. Some shipments when sold to other countries have been returned, mainly the rubber has many impurities.
According to experts, rubber prices in the Asian market have fluctuated strongly amid optimism about China's economic data. The Chinese government currently has many policies for the electric vehicle industry, which have positively impacted the total demand for rubber in this country, so rubber prices have increased slightly in the past few months.
Mr. Nguyen Van Hiep - Head of Industrial Management Department (Department of Industry and Trade) said: Nghe An currently has over 10,000 hectares of rubber, mainly concentrated in the districts of Anh Son, Nghia Dan, Tan Ky, Que Phong... Mainly enterprises, agricultural and forestry units, schools, and one-member limited liability companies manage rubber areas, assigning them to households for care and exploitation, and the above units are in charge of purchasing rubber latex.
Enterprises should invest in building modern technology processing factories to increase the proportion of processed rubber rather than raw rubber to increase export value./.