The Malaysian Rubber Council (MRC) said rubber products remained dominant in the third quarter of 2021, allowing the industry to continue to thrive and contribute to the economy.

It said the latex goods sector continued to show strong performance amounting to RM51.4 billion, an increase of 86.3% over the same period last year of RM27.6 billion.

“Rubber gloves remain the highest earner with export revenue of almost RM50 billion, an increase of 91% from the previous year.

“Medical gloves made up 40.1% of the latex goods sector amounting to RM22.2 billion,” it said in a statement today.

The MRC said as countries ramped up their vaccination programme, large-scale vaccine deployment had increased the need for examination gloves.

It said the dry rubber products sector also showed positive growth.

“The tyre industry was enhanced with the aim of diversifying Malaysia’s export contribution of high-value products and increasing the export performance of dry rubber products, while simultaneously increasing the consumption of locally produced rubber,” it said.

It said the January-October period saw an encouraging 28.1% rise in tyre exports  compared to the same period last year, amounting to almost RM1.4 billion.

Industrial rubber goods comprising products for the automotive, mining and construction sectors (37.2%) and footwear (20%) also showed an encouraging increase.

Meanwhile, MRC chief executive officer Nor Hizwan Ahmad said the council was pushing for industry players to move up the global value chain by introducing new channels through collaborations with international development organisations.

He said the MRC would embark on a RM10 million global fund for rubber innovation to promote new ideas, innovations and inventions with high commercial viability within the industry.

The fund is intended to seed innovative research with the potential to spur investments in high-value products and technologies within the rubber and rubber products industry.