Rubber firms up on supply pinch

Rubber firms up on supply pinch


Kottayam, Oct. 18

The rubber prices firmed up further on Monday. Widespread rains and supply concerns dominated the market mood and the prices moved up lacking quantity sellers in the main marketing centres.

There were no fresh quotes from the tyre sector and volumes were extremely poor.

According to dealers, sheet rubber improved to Rs 182.50 (Rs 181) a kg mainly on covering purchases.

The grade closed at Rs 182.00 (Rs 180.50) a kg both at Kottayam and Kochi as reported by the Rubber Board.

The November series increased to Rs 190.85 (Rs 188.01), December to Rs 193.84 (Rs 190.93), January to Rs 196.60 (Rs 193.90) and February to Rs 200.00 (Rs 197.46) a kg for RSS 4 on National Multi Commodity Exchange (NMCE).

The volumes totalled 8020 lots and open interest 5036 lots. The turnover was Rs 153.18 crores.

The October futures for RSS 3 moved down to ¥ 323.0 (Rs 176.36) from ¥ 329.5 during the day session but recovered partially to ¥ 325.5 (Rs 177.70) a kg during the night session on Tokyo Commodity Exchange (TOCOM). The grade (spot) weakened Rs 177.57 (Rs 178.17) a kg at Bangkok.

The physical rubber rates a kg were: RSS-4: Rs 182.50 (Rs 181.00), RSS-5: Rs 173.50 (Rs 172.50), Ungraded: Rs 172.00 (Rs 170.00), ISNR 20: Rs 182.00 (Rs 177.00)and Latex 60 per cent: Rs 118.00 (Rs 116.50)


Mechanised knife for rubber tapping at experimental stage


Kottayam, Oct 18

A demonstration of the functioning of a prototype of mechanised tapping knife, which is at the experimental stage, was conducted for Rubber Board members on Monday.

The knife has been developed by Mr Z. Mathew, Adjunct Professor at Amal Jyothi College of Engineering, Kanjirappally.

Earlier in his presidential address at the 164th meeting of the Rubber Board, Mr Sajan Peter, board's Chairman, said rubber production in the country during April-September was 7.6 per cent higher over the corresponding period a year ago. Domestic rubber consumption increased 2 per centduring the period. Consumption in the automotive tyre sector grew by 4.1 per cent, but the non-tyre sector recorded a decline of 1.3 per cent, he said.



Monsoon havoc for Rubber: Prices hit record highs
TOKYO/KOCHI (Commodity Online): Rubber prices moved ahead to hit a record high in the domestic as well as international markets as rains disrupted supplies and tapping in parts of the growing areas in Indonesia and India.

The prices hit a six-month high on the back of rising demand and limited supplies. Shanghai rubber advanced to the highest since 2002.

Futures in Tokyo gained as much as 1.9% to 334.4 yen per kilogram ($4,084 a metric ton). The prices are hovering at the peak levels since April 19 and traded at 333.1 yen in the later trades.

The buying is robust in the Chinese markets as the inventories had bottomed out after the National Day Holidays in the early this month.

Rubber inventories at the exchange warehouses in China remained lower at 36,900 tonnes on October 8, which was 76% lower than this year’s high of 151,832 tonnes on Jan. 21.

The March-delivery contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange last traded 3.1% higher at 30,230 yuan.

The rainfall too played key role in crewing up the prices. The monsoon has been heavy and longer than the previous year. This lowered latex levels in key plantation countries.

Indonesian rubber prices hit a record yesterday at USD 3.85 per kilogram on rains havoc, damaging tapping and lowering production.

Thailand prices were up 2.6% on Tuesday, at 116.50 baht ($3.87) per kg on rising demand from China and other key developing countries.

India rubber hovered at the peak levels of Rs.180 per kg on the National Multi Commodity Exchange (NMCE) for immediate contract.

On Tuesday, physical rubber prices ended almost unchanged due to positive change in the weather during the past couple of days. However, the prices remained firm on Wednesday, October 13, 2010 as the robust demand in the international markets jacked up prices.



Rubber output up 7.6% during Apr-Sep’10 in India
KOTTAYAM (Commodity Online): The natural rubber (NR) production in the country during April-September 2010 was higher by 7.6% over the corresponding period in the previous year, the Rubber Board Chairman, Sajen Peter informed today.

He was delivering the presidential address in the 164th meeting of the Rubber Board held at Rubber Research Institute of India.

The consumption of NR in the domestic markets also increased 2% during this period. Consumption in the automotive tyre sector grew by 4.1%, while the non-tyre sector recorded a decline of 1.3%, he said.

He informed the meeting that world NR production and consumption had also increased by 5.9% and 17.8% respectively during the first half of 2010.

The global stock of NR is very low at 932,000 tonne at the end of June 2010 according to the reports of International Rubber Study Group. World production and consumption of NR in 2010 are projected at 10.25 and 10.31 million tonnes respectively.

A demonstration of the functioning of the prototype of mechanised tapping knife, which is in the experimental stage, also was conducted for the Board members. The knife was developed by Z Mathew, Adjunct Professor of Amal Jyothi College of Engineering, Kanjirappally.