Vietnam exported 354,000 tons of rubber worth 453 million US dollars in the first nine months of this year, posting year-on-year respective surges of 6 percent and 17.3 percent, according to the Vietnam Rubber Association on Monday.

The country is expected to sell 550,000 tons of rubber abroad in 2005, the association said, noting that it exported 495,000 tons of the product worth 579 million dollars to 46 countries and regions, mainly China, South Korea and Germany, in 2004.

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.

Besides growing more rubber trees in the central highlands region, the southeastern region and some remote areas, Vietnam will intensify investment in raising productivity of existing rubber plantations, renovating ways of collecting latex, and building new processing plants adjacent to material zones, the association said.

Source: Xinhua