India may witness sharp rise in rubber import this fiscal

India may witness sharp rise in rubber import this fiscal


MUMBAI (Commodity Online): Higher exposure in the automobile sector coupled with the cheap imports duty is expected to increase India’s natural rubber import by 42% in the current season.

According to the Rubber Board of India, the imports are expected to spurt sharply in the current season as against its earlier estimation of 70000 tons.

Talking to reporters Board Chairman, Sajen Peter said, “In all likelihood, imports will be higher than 100,000 tonnes this financial year due to higher demand in the domestic market”.

According to data with the Rubber Board, total imports during April-August exceeded its estimate and were around 77,577 tonnes. The country produced 831,400 tonnes rubber in 2009-2010 and is estimated to produce 7.5 per cent more over last year to 893,000 tonnes in the 2010-11 periods.

On domestic pricing, Indian rubber prices were higher than international prices earlier and domestic prices are now at the same level as international prices. In the near term, pricing will remain at this level.



Malaysia July rubber output falls by 2.2%



MUMBAI (Commodity Online): Malaysia's natural rubber production in July fell 2.2% from a year earlier to 81,083 metric tons, according to a data from the Department of Statistics. Rubber exports rose 23% to 75,505 tons, while imports fell 17% to 57,033 tons.

Strong demand from China provided a boost, accounting for around 35% of July rubber exports. Latex concentrate and standard rubber made up 52% and 29% respectively of the rubber imports. Domestic rubber consumption fell 8.7% on year to 38,184 tons.

The Rubber Board of India has asked the Forward Markets Commission to lower the intraday price circuit levels in rubber futures to a total of not more than 2%, a leading newspaper reported Wednesday quoting Rubber Board Chairman Sajen Peter. Currently, rubber futures prices can rise or fall 2% initially during a trading session.

After this, if the price rises or falls another 2%, then trading is frozen for the day. Rubber Board wants trading to be halted for 30 minutes once the price rises or falls 1%, and after that it can move either way by another 1% before trade is suspended for the session, the paper said.

He said India's rubber imports could go up to 1, 00,000 tons in the current financial year ending March as against the earlier estimate of 70,000 tons.



Rubber Board – BIS plans quality awareness event


KOTTAYAM (Commodity Online): The Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) and the Rubber Board of India have jointly called for an Industrial Awareness Programme for the benefit of rubber processors and rubber goods manufacturers.

The meeting is mainly intended for collecting feedback from various stake holders and for discussing issues if any, in the mode of quality implementation and to find out whether any revision of standards are necessary to equip them to meet the challenges of global competition, a statement issued by the Board stated today.

The standard quality mark ‘ISI’ is well accepted by the industry and consumers as a symbol of assured quality. The programme will be conducted on 17th September 2010 at Silver Jubilee Hall of Rubber Research Institute of India.

Dignitaries like Sajen Peter, Chairman-Rubber Board and K Ambarasu, Dy. Director General - Southern Region of BIS will be present at the event participate in the function.



Rubber weakens on global trend
Aravindan

Kottayam, Sept 16

Rubber prices weakened on Thursday. Spot prices slipped following declines in domestic and international futures. There has been no selling pressure in the market. The trend was mixed as ISNR 20 and latex 60 per cent finished flat, while the transactions were in a low key. According to dealers, sheet rubber surrendered to Rs 166from Rs 168a kg on buyer resistance. The grade moved down to Rs 167from Rs 168.5 a kg on the Board's official Web site.

The October series weakened to Rs 166.75 (Rs 167.5), November to Rs 166.5 (Rs 167.24) and December to Rs 167.3 (Rs 168.04) a kg for RSS 4, while the January series finished its debut session at Rs 168.75 on the National Multi Commodity Exchange (NMCE).

Futures decline

The key Tokyo rubber futures fell as a sharp drop in the nearby September contract pulled down the overall market, while weakness in oil, Shanghai futures and stocks also weighed on the investor sentiments much ahead of a long weekend in Japan. The September futures for RSS 3 declined sharply to ¥289.5 (Rs 155.98) from ¥298.a kg during the day session and then to ¥286.2 (Rs 154.19) during the night session on the Tokyo Commodity Exchange . RSS 3 (spot) slipped to Rs 162.58 (Rs 162.85) a kg at Bangkok.

Spot rubber rates (Rs/kg) were: RSS-4: 166(168); RSS-5: 163(165); Ungraded: 159(160); ISNR 20: 155(155) and latex 60 per cent: 115(115)