Thailand's rubber production is expected to decline by 1.7% to 4.71 million tons in 2023, compared with 4.79 million tons in 2022; the harvested area is expected to increase by 0.2% to 22.08 million rai, compared with 22.03 million rai in 2022; and the acreage yield is expected to decline from 217 kg/rai to 213 kg/rai.

Domestic rubber consumption is expected to increase by 20.2% to 1.25 million tons, compared to 1.04 million tons in the previous year. By species, flake rubber accounted for 12.1%, standard rubber 37.4%, latex concentrate 21.3%, mixed rubber 20.3% and others 8.8%. By industry, tires accounted for 60.8%, rubber gloves accounted for 10.2%, others accounted for 29%.

Rubber exports are expected to decline by 2.3% to 4.3 million tons, compared to 4.4 million tons in the previous year. Of this, 8.1% is accounted for by flake rubber, 32.8% by labeled rubber, 10.9% by concentrated latex, 47.4% by mixed rubber, and 0.7% by others.

Looking ahead to 2024, Thailand's rubber production is expected to decline by 0.6% to 4.68 million tons, with harvested area increasing by 0.5% to 22.19 million rai and acreage declining to 211 kg/rai.

The increase in harvested area is due to the fact that the newly planted rubber trees in 2018 have entered the high-yield period. The reason for the decrease in production is that the main producing areas are still suffering from rubber tree defoliation disease; secondly, there is a trend of intensification of the El Niño phenomenon, which has led to a decrease in rainfall and hot weather resulting in less latex content than normal.

In addition, domestic consumption and exports are expected to increase from the previous year due to the increasing demand for rubber from the global rubber industry.