Agriculture and Environment: Commodities

Table of Facts : Rubber (Heva brasiliensis)

Production
Area Under Cultivation - 7.7 Million ha
Global Production - 6.8 Million MT
Average Productivity - 888 kg/ha
Producer Price - $395 per MT
Producer Production Value - $2,688 million

International Trade
Share of World Production - 84%
Exports - 5.7 million MT
Average Price - $680 per MT
Value - $3,876 Million

Principal Producing Countries/Blocs
Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, China, Indonesia, India, Sri Lanka

Principal Exporting Countries/Blocs
Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia, Liberia, Cote d'Ivoire

Principal Importing Countries/Blocs
United States, European Union, China, Japan

Major Environmental Impacts

• Effluents from processing in the plantations and in processing plants
• Conversion of primary forest habitat is an issue mostly in China

Potential to Improve

• Good
• Very little expansion planting
• BMPs are known and address most impacts
• Few inputs are being used
• Effluents are a problem but there are known ways to reduce them
  

Source: FAO 2002. All data for 2000.