KUNMING, May 9 (Xinhua) -- Southwest China's rubber-rich province of Yunnan has drawn up a special plan to advance the natural rubber industry.

According to the plan, by 2020, the annual output of natural rubber will be raised to 600,000 tonnes, with a total value of 9 billion yuan (1.32 billion U.S. dollars).

By the end of 2017, rubber plantations in Yunnan reached 570,000 hectares, about half of China's total. It produces 438,000 tonnes of rubber every year, over 53.8 percent of the national total.

The action plan is issued by the Yunnan Provincial Department of Industry and Information Technology to give a substantial boost to the industry.

Companies need to grow stronger, and the industrial structure will be more optimal, the plan said.

Natural rubber is mainly grown in seven cities and prefectures of Xishuangbanna, Pu'er, Honghe, Lincang, Dehong, Wenshan, and Baoshan. The industry employees 586,000 people, of which 90 percent are rubber farmers.