A Primary Event for a Prime Industry

Southeast Asia’s fastest growing nation will once host PLASTICS & RUBBER VIETNAM in 2008. The exhibition could not be more timely. Accession to the Would Trade Organisation combined with its membership of ASEAN, comprising a market of 560 million people, means Vietnam now has both full exposure to the opportunities offered by both global markets and those of its Southeast Asian neighbors.

Rubber Industry Bounds Ahead

Vietnamis the world’s third largest rubber producer. It exported 659,000 tons in 2006, 31% more than in 2005. Vietnam exports the majority of its rubber in unprocessed or semi-processed form.

The rubber processing industry absorbs at best 50,000 tons each year so there is good potential for future industry expansion. The current Five-Tear Plan, for example, calls for establishment of a tire plant to make 2 million tires annually. The domestic rubber sector will continue to improve the level of rubber processing and shift to growing those rubber tree varieties that have the highest commercial value.