Drought Playing Havoc in China

1 April 2010 - The continuing severest drought is playing havoc in the second largest rubber growing region of China, the largest natural rubber importer.

Rubber plantations in Xishuangbanna, Yunnan, in the south western region of China, has been reported to have been ravaged by powdery mildew, a disease wherein rubber trees shed leaves and latex production slows. So much so that farmers fear that output this year could plunge nearly 30 percent.

Xishuangbanna, the second largest rubber growing area after Hainan province in China, has 246,000 hectares of rubber trees and the cash crop provides much of the income for local farmers.

There are around 30 private rubber manufacturers here and most of them have ceased production, as processing the raw rubber requires huge quantities of water.

The shortfall in output has resulted in losses of over US $ 26.37 million for the region as of March, claimed local government officials.

With drought playing havoc in the growing regions, China, which is the largest natural rubber importer in the world, has no other choice but to increase its import of the commodity from abroad. This is evident by statistics released which showed a surge of 63 percent in China’s imports of natural rubber for the first two months of this year. -  IRCo

(irco.biz)