Harvesting rubber latex on a rubber plantation in Vietnam. (Source: VNA)

The figures also represented year-on-year increases of 33.1 percent in volume and 26.4 percent in value, the Agency of Foreign Trade in the Ministry of Industry and Trade cited statistics by the General Department of Vietnam Customs as showing.

Rubber export prices averaged 1,645 USD per tonne in May, down 8.9 percent against April and 5 percent as compared with the same period last year.

In the first five months of this year, the country shipped 595,000 tonnes of rubber abroad valued at 1.04 billion USD, up 8.1 percent and 12 percent year-on-year, respectively.

China was the biggest buyer of Vietnamese natural and synthetic rubber, with hikes seen in both volume and value in the first months.

The Association of Natural Rubber Producing Countries (ANRPC) forecast that the global rubber demand will increase in the time ahead due to loosened travel restrictions and the reopening of borders by countries, helping to resume economic activities.