Vietnam, despite being the world's 4th biggest natural rubber exporter, is estimated to spend 133 million U.S. dollars on importing 78,000 tons of natural rubber in the first five months of this year, according to the Vietnam Rubber Association on Tuesday.

The figures represent year-on-year rises of 130 percent and 100 percent in value and volume respectively, the association's general secretary Tran Thuy Hoa said, noting that the bigger import is due to the greater demand of domestic industries for the products.

According to Vietnamese experts, rubber producers do not want to sell the commodity to local customers because their orders are usually much smaller than foreigners' ones. Moreover, natural rubber exports are exempt from value added tax.

Between January and May, Vietnam is estimated to ship abroad 221,000 tons of rubber worth 376 million dollars, posting year-on- year respective increases of 40.5 percent and 101.3 percent, according to the country's General Statistics Office.

The country plans to increase its rubber tree acreage to 700, 000 hectares by 2010 from 500,000 hectares in 2005, and build more rubber processing plants in the coming years.

Source: Xinhua