Expansion of Cambodia's rubber cultivation will lose momentum by an estimated 61 percent in 2009 year-on-year, said government figures released here on Monday.

An additional 10,000 hectares of rubber trees would be planted in 2009 compared with an increase of 25,901 hectares in 2008, according to the Rubber Plantation Department under the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries.

The expected decline comes as international rubber prices hit 1, 400 U.S. dollars per ton, down from 3,500 U.S. dollars per ton in 2008, according the department.

Lower automobile sales and rising stockpiles have also contributed to sinking global rubber prices, it added.

In 2008, Cambodia had 107,901 hectares under cultivation, up by 31 percent on a total of 82,000 hectares in 2007.