TOKYO -- Ivory Coast is steadily gaining on Southeast Asian nations as a major rubber producer, buoyed by pending sustainability rules in Europe.
The West African country produced 1.55 million tonnes of natural rubber last year, according to the International Rubber Study Group. That is nearly double the 815,000 tonnes produced in 2019 and puts Ivory Coast ahead of Vietnam to become the world's third-largest producer, after Thailand and Indonesia.
