The decline in shipments in June was on delay in shipping because of long holidays ahead of Ied ul Fitr, but starting July shipping began to be normal," Secretary of the Federation of Indonesian Rubber Companies (Gapkindo) of North Sumatra Edy Irwansyah said here on Saturday.
Export of the commodity from the province in July rose to 41,489 tons from 29,499 tons in the previous month, Edy said.
He said rubber exports from North Sumatra averaged 40,000 tons every month.
"However, despite the increase in the export volume, the price of the SIR 20 type declined. In June , 2018, the rubber export price was US$1.385 per kg down to US$1.317 per kg in July," he said.
Edy noted the export price of rubber has tended to be stagnant at low level since April 2018.
"Rubber exports from North Sumatra dropped to 226,012 tons in the first half of 2018 from 254,222 tons in the same period in 2017, as a result of the sharp fall in June, 2018," he said.
Natural rubber is one of the country`s major export commodities . Indonesia is the world`s second largest producer of natural rubber after Thailand , and North Sumatra is one of the largest producing provinces.
Reporting by Evalisa Siregar
Editing by A Saragih
Reporter: Antara
Editor: Andi Abdussalam
Copyright © ANTARA 2018
