From QR codes on products to re-using water at factories, many rubber companies are applying green credentials in order to secure export orders and also cut costs.
However, the Vietnamese rubber market share is shrinking here, while the market shares of Indonesia, China, the Philippines, Cambodia, and Singapore tend to increase.
Viet Nam''s rubber industry needs to develop production chain to meet the increasing demands of export markets, especially fastidious markets such as Europe and the US.
Viet Nam''s rubber exports in June reached 122,760 tonnes, earning US$174.45 million, a month on month increase of 58.4 per cent in volume and 56.1 per cent in value.
Rubber exports are expected to reach 1.2-1.25 million tonnes of this year, a year-on-year increase of 5.5-10 per cent, according to the Viet Nam Rubber Association.
Viet Nam exported 451,000 tonnes of rubber worth US$832 million in the
first seven months of the year, down 10 per cent and 32.3 per cent in
volume and value respectively over the same period last year.
Viet Nam will sharply cut export duty for rubber to 1 per cent from
current 3-5 per cent from December 26, 2013, the Ministry of Finance
(MoF) said on its website.
The country exported 100,000 tonnes of rubber this
month, reaping a turnover of US$223 million, according to the Ministry
of Agriculture and Rural Development''s statistics.
Viet Nam''s rubber exports fell sharply during the first half of 2013,
plunging 19.2 per cent in value and 5 per cent in volume against the
same period last year, according to the Ministry of Industry and Trade.