Burma’s rubber producers say the industry has a strong future, even though prices are falling at the moment. Rubber exports from Burma, also known as Myanmar, are expected to double by 2016 to about 340,000 tonnes from 170,000 tonnes last year. Even so, Burma will remain in the shadow of neighbouring Thailand, the world’s largest rubber exporter, which shipped 3.4 million tonnes last year. Sheet rubber was fetching 120 baht ($3.70) a kilogram in Thailand in 2011, but last week the price had dropped to less than half, 51 baht a kilogram.
