Rubber prices have soared in Mon state, where the majority of rubber in the country, are produced.  The increase has been more than 50 Kyat per pound over the last two weeks.
 
"The best quality sheet is 1,425 Kyat per pound while two weeks ago it was 1360 Kyat. The price increases in the rainy season because of less sapping," a rubber trader told IMNA.
 
The rubber is mainly exported to China . Korea has become the fifth export client after China , Singapore , Malaysia and India . Some of the product is used in the shoe industry in Mandalay and some parts of the country.
 
However the Myanmar Times, the newspaper controlled by the military government reported that
 Myanmar plans to export 10,000 tons of rubber sheets to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea following restoration of diplomatic relations between the two nations.
 
The paper quoted the Myanmar Rubber Planters and Producer's Association as saying that the
 Export will start within two months. The association signed the agreement last week.
 
According to a local rubber plantation owner, more and more people are interested in planting rubber. The local price of a "sapping-age rubber plant" is more than five million Kyats per acre and some are around 10 million Kyats.
 
The price of plain land for growing rubber is between 0.3 million Kyats to 0.7 million Kyats per acre depending on the distance of the land from the town or village.
 
Mon state is the main area for rubber cultivation in the country and more than 105,000 acres of
 Rubber plantation is cultivated in just southern Mon state while the whole state has over 364,500 hectares. Rubber seedling is also become a good business in the area. The military government has plans to grow rubber on a further 81000 hectares in the coming years and will produce 80,000 tons more in the 2007-2008 fiscal.