UPDATE 1-Vietnam's 2010 rubber exports to rise 17 pct-trade

HO CHI MINH CITY, Vietnam, Nov 4 - Vietnamese exports of natural rubber next year are expected to rise 17 percent from 2009 to 700,000 tonnes, an industry official said on Wednesday.

The exports could bring in $1.4 billion, Le Quang Thung, chairman of the Vietnam Rubber Association, told Reuters on the sidelines of an international rubber conference.

Deputy Agriculture Minister Ho Xuan Hung said the trend of using natural rubber was on the rise as high crude oil prices capped the production of synthetic rubber.

"Demand to use rubber products is also rising for transportation on land, at sea and in aviation," Hung told a news briefing at the annual rubber conference held by the Association of Natural Rubber Producing Countries.

Vietnam is the world's fourth-largest rubber exporter after Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia.

Hung said the Vietnamese government will discuss with industry officials the prospect of Vietnam joining the International Tripartite Rubber Corporation (ITRC).

The ITRC groups senior agricultural officials from Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia, the world's top three rubber-producing countries. Hung did not say when Vietnam might join them.

In March Vietnam said it aimed to cut rubber exports by 3 percent this year to 600,000 tonnes this year, as part of a plan by major producers to tighten supplies.

However, since then, Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia have effectively stopped limiting their exports after a recovery in prices.

Vietnamese rubber exports in the first 10 months of this year rose 2.5 percent from a year earlier to 539,000 tonnes, but revenue dropped 41.2 percent to $823 million, government data showed.

About 65 percent of Vietnam's rubber exports go to China, the world's top buyer. Other main destinations are Singapore, South Korea, Russia, Taiwan, the United States, Japan and EU countries.