Vietnam has exported 4,000 tons of rubber via its northern Mong Cai border gate to China in the first half of June, posting month-on-month rises in both volume and value.

The prices of Vietnamese rubber exported to China now stand at around 11,500 RMB yuan (1,334 US dollars) per ton, up from 11,300 yuan (nearly 1,311 dollars) late last month, mainly due to international thinner supplies, and higher demand of the neighbor country this year, according to Vietnam's Trade Ministry on Thursday.

Vietnam is expected to gain 480 million dollars from exporting rubber to China, its biggest rubber importer, this year, up from 357 million dollars last year.

Vietnam supplied 154,000 tons of rubber worth 184 million dollars to the world market, mainly China, South Korea and Germany, in the first five months of this year, recording year-on-year respective rises of 9 percent and 13.2 percent.

The country plans to increase its rubber tree acreage to 700, 000 hectares with dried latex output of some 520,000 tons in 2010 from current 500,000 hectares, and build more rubber processing plants in the coming years, said the Vietnam Rubber Association.

Source: Xinhua