The Association of Natural Rubber Producing Countries ( ANRPC ), an organization of major rubber producing countries, has forecast that the output will exceed demand by over 3 million tonnes in 2017. Last year the production surpassed demand by 2.7 million tonnes.

As per the report released by the association on Wednesday, the total NR production of the member countries is expected to increase by 4.2% in 2017 from last year despite a fall in output in the first two months.

Considering the anticipated figures available up to May 2017, the total production for five months from January is expected to rise by 1.9% to 4.0.48 million tonnes from the same period in the previous year. Based on the revised outlook, the production in 2017 is anticipated at 11.214 million tonnes, up 4.2% from 10.767 million tonnes in 2016.