Head of the South Sulawesi industry and trade agency Gusti Yasni Iqbal said here Monday that the rubber exports from the province increased following the tsunami in Japan which caused a drop in the price of rubber from Rp18 thousand to Rp4 thousand per kilogram.
"Our rubber exports dropped due to market sentiment following the tsunami in Japan, and several exporters are even withholding the commodity pending favorable developments," he said.
Some exporters, he said that Japan as an automotive manufacturer would stop its tyre production, and following the natural disaster rubber price in South Kalimatan dropped.
But the worry was actually unnecessary, and rubber price increased again to 4.5 to 5 US dollars per kilogram.
He said rubber exports in the January-March 2011 period increased by 30.33 pct to 10.3 thousand tons compared to only 7.9 thousand tons in last year`s same period, while the value of the exports increased fantastically from the January-March 2010 period of only 16 million US dollars, and in this year`s same period to 47.7 million US dollars, an increase by 197,51 pct.
(Uu.H-NG/S012)
Editor: Priyambodo RH
Copyright © ANTARA 2011
