Global crisis has bad impact on the North Sumatra`s export performance."Medan (ANTARA News) - North Sumatras production of natural rubber is predicted to decline to around 450,000 tons this year from 465,000 tons in 2014.
Executive Secretary of the North Sumatra branch of the Indonesian Association of Rubber Companies Eddy Irwansyah attributed the decline to falling price of that commodity in international market.
Many farmers even cut their rubber trees to replace their crops with ones more profitable, Eddy said here on Saturday.
He said the price of natural rubber in international market was only US$1.17 per kilogram and around Rp13,000 per kilograms at processing factory.
He predicted the rubber price would shrink further to follow the oil price fall.
Gapkindo said with the trend, farmers would have no interest to grow rubber.
"As a result the countrys rubber production is feared to shrink again in 2016," Eddy said.
Currently North Sumatra contributed 33 percent to the countrys total production of natural rubber. North Sumatra is the countrys second largest producer of natural rubber after South Sumatra.
Secretary of the Indonesian businessmen association of (Apindo) of North Sumatra Parlindungan Purba said falling prices of rubber and crude palm oil (CPO) resulted in a decline the provinces export earning so far this year.
Rubber and CPO are two major export commodities from North Sumatra.
Until the third quarter of 2015, North Sumatras export earning dropped 18.31 percent on year = from US$7.099 billion in the first nine months of 2014 to US$5.799 billion in the same period this year.
"Global crisis has bad impact on the North Sumatras export performance," Parlindungan said.
(Uu.ASG/H-YH)
Editor: Priyambodo RH
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