Vietnam, the world's fourth biggest natural rubber exporter, shipped abroad 278,000 tons of rubber worth 486 million U.S. dollars in the first half of this year, posting respective year-on-year surges of 43.4 percent and 109.6 percent, according to a local trade agency on Tuesday.

Average export prices of local rubber stood at 1,720 dollars per ton in the first six months of this year, 500 dollars per ton higher than that of the same period last year, said the Trade Information Center under the Trade Ministry.

Between January and June, China was the biggest market of local rubber with the import volume of 164,000 tons, followed by South Korea with 12,300 tons.

Last year, Vietnam exported 574,000 tons of rubber valued at 787 million dollars mainly to China, South Korea, Japan, Germany and the United States, up 11.9 percent and 31.9 percent, respectively.

Vietnam 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