According to a report by Forest Trends last year, Vietnam is the world’s fifth largest rubber growing country, with about 926,000 hectares in 2020, but ranks third in the world in terms of output with an amount of about 1.22 million tons in 2020. 2020.

According to the same report, exports of natural rubber materials such as block rubber and latex concentrate, and rubber products such as tires, pharmaceuticals and shoe soles increased from $2.9 billion in 2015 to nearly 5 $0.5 billion in 2020. More and more big companies like Nike and Adidas are prioritizing buying rubber from manufacturers certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), the industry’s gold standard for compliance. legal and environmental requirements.

However, Vietnam does not yet have an FSC certified supplier. Forest Trends senior policy analysts said that most of Vietnam’s rubber industry could reach FSC level due to the “messy” supply chain with about 265,000 smallholder households and hundreds of businesses. In addition, raw rubber imported from Cambodia and Laos is mixed with domestic rubber. The main issue is the management of rubber plantations in Vietnam’s small neighbor, where the sector is tied to conflicts over land and logging. According to experts and industry insiders, the lack of transparency could undermine Vietnam’s rubber industry, and global importers increasingly need materials that meet strict standards.

Meanwhile, importers and brands around the world are calling on Vietnam and other countries to increase the transparency of their rubber supply chains and be willing to pay them. U.S. rubber company Yulex supplies some Vietnamese brands of clothing, but uses rubber imported from FSC-approved farms in Sri Lanka or Guatemala. As another sign of change, in August, Japan’s leading Sumitomo Rubber Corporation announced its latest policy on sustainable natural rubber, including a commitment to conduct an external audit of with its suppliers in areas such as environment, labor practices.