Yoga Rusmana – Exports of natural rubber from Indonesia, the second-biggest grower, plunged 32 percent by volume in the first quarter in a bigger reduction than targeted by the country's industry association.

Shipments fell 197,500 metric tons to 418,000 tons in the three months from a year ago, Suharto Honggokusumo, executive director of the Indonesian Rubber Association, said today. Indonesia planned to cut first-quarter exports by 116,000 tons.

Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia, the world's three biggest producers, agreed in December to reduce shipments by a combined 700,000 tons to help revive prices, which have been hammered by the global recession.

"Farmers not only reduced tapping, but some even totally stopped work because of low prices," Honggokusumo said by phone. Low shipments may continue in the second quarter on weak demand from tire manufacturers, he said, without giving a forecast.

Rubber futures have slumped about 47 percent over the past year as the global economic crisis forced automakers including Toyota Motor Corp., the world's biggest, to reduce output. The September delivery contract was at 155.1 yen a kilogram ($1,588 a metric ton) on the Tokyo Commodity Exchange at the 11 a.m. local time break.