Rubber loses further onlack of buyers.

Rubber loses further onlack of buyers.


KOTTAYAM, JUNE 23:
Physical rubber prices continued to remain in a corrective phase on Thursday. The market made further losses mainly in the absence of buyers though there was no selling pressure from dealers or growers. Sharp declines in the international markets and a bearish outlook in the domestic futures were the guiding factors that kept the traders mostly on sidelines during the day. The transactions were low.

Though there has been an upswing consistently for the last few months in rubber prices, of late there is a set back to the rubber sector and some small units have shut down , according to Mr George Valy, President, Indian rubber Dealers Federation. The Chinese absence in the international market contributed considerably to the current decline. The tyre production is now at a slow pace and it has badly affected the automobile sector also. The market is now at a downward journey before it settles at a stage which should be acceptable to growers as well, Mr Valy observed

Sheet rubber weakened to Rs. 216.50 (217.50) a kg, according to traders. The grade moved down to Rs 217.00 (218.00) a kg both at Kottayam and Kochi, as reported by the Rubber Board.

In futures, the July series recovered marginally to Rs 213.90 (212.23), August to Rs 216.08 (215.32), September to Rs 215.94 (214.54) and December to Rs 217.90 (216.20) while the October series dropped to Rs 214.51 (214.74) and November to Rs 215.00 (218.20) a kg for RSS 4 on the National Multi Commodity Exchange.

RSS 3 (spot) declined to Rs 215.26 (221.73) a kg at Bangkok. The June futures nosedived to ¥ 377.9 (Rs 210.78) from ¥ 393.0 a kg during the day session and then slipped to ¥ 375.7 (Rs 209.54) in the night session on Tokyo Commodity Exchange.

Spot rubber rates (Rs/kg) were: RSS-4: 216.50 (217.50); RSS-5: 214.00 (215.00); Ungraded: 211.00 (213.00); ISNR 20: 213.00 (215.00) and Latex 60 per cent: 135.00 (137.00)





Soaring BR prices may trigger switch to NR – ICIS
June 23, 2011



Singapore — International analysts, ICIS are reporting that Asian tyre makers may switch away from synthetic rubber toward natural rubber (NR) if NR prices fall below $4/kg, based on the high cost of butadiene and polybutadiene rubber.

Spot BR prices increased by $175/tonne to around $4,300-4,550/tonne CFR (cost and freight) SE (southeast) Asia on 16 June, according to ICIS. Offers for July and August BR, meanwhile, were at $4,800-5,000/tonne CFR Asia, up by $200-300/tonne from the previous month, market sources said.

While BR and NR are not direct replacements, as suggested by ICIS, tyre makers do have some flexibility to substitute into or awaw from NR in their replacement tyres. Estimates of the potential for substitution vary, but average around 10 percent of global volume.





Tokyo NR prices sink to $4.46 (June 23)
June 23, 2011


On Tokyo’s Tocom Exchange, prices for the six-month contract moved down by yen 3 overnight, to close at yen 359 ($4.46) per kg on Thursday 23 June. Shorter-dated prices moved down, trading at around yen 370.

In Singapore, SGX said September RSS3 was around $0.10 lower than Wednesday’s prices at around $4.65, with contracts for December 2011 trading at around $4.65. Short-dated TSR 20 was trading down by about $0.07 at $4.36.

In India, the NMCE saw July deliveries fall by Rs 8 to around Rs212 ($4.72) per kilo

In China, the Shanghai Futures Exchange also saw prices fall by a fraction of a yuan, with July deliveries trading at around Yuan 33.9 ($5.27) per kilo.






Rubber in Tokyo Set for Worst Loss in Seven Weeks as Demand Concern Grows
June 24, 2011



Rubber headed for the worst weekly performance in seven weeks, as a slump in oil prices and concerns about global economic recovery cut the appeal of the commodity as an alternative to synthetic products used in tires.

The November-delivery contract dropped as much as 1.4 percent to 355.5 yen a kilogram ($4,417 a metric ton), the lowest level since May 6, before trading at 359.5 yen on the Tokyo Commodity Exchange at 10:40 a.m. The price has lost 5.3 percent this week, the largest drop since the week ended May 6 when it shed 7.3 percent.

Commodities fell the most in six weeks yesterday as the International Energy Agency announced plans to release emergency crude-oil supplies and U.S. jobless claims rose more than forecast. European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet said the European debt crisis threatens to infect banks.

“Concerns about the U.S. and European economies were the largest drag on the market,” Hisaaki Tasaka, an analyst at ACE Koeki Co. in Tokyo, said by phone today. “Lower oil prices also eased speculation that prices of synthetic rubber may advance.”

Applications for jobless benefits rose more than forecast last week and consumer confidence in the U.S., the world’s second-largest economy, fell for the first time in five weeks. Risk signals for financial stability in the euro area are flashing “red,” as the crisis threatens banks, Trichet said.

Crude Slump

Crude climbed in New York as much as 1.5 percent today after sliding 4.6 percent yesterday. The International Energy Agency agreed to release 60 million barrels to buyers. Oil stockpiles among the 28 member countries of the IEA declined by 340,000 barrels a day during the first quarter of this year, the Agency said in its monthly Oil Market Report on June 16.

Rubber was also pressured on signs of increasing supplies from Thailand, the world’s largest producer and exporter, Tasaka said. Farmers boosted tree-tapping after a low-production period.

Output in Thailand is estimated to gain 6.8 percent to 3.26 million tons this year, according to the Office of Agricultural Economics. Output in India, the fourth-biggest producer, may jump 22 percent in four years as planters boost yields to keep pace with rising demand from tiremakers, according to the country’s state-run Rubber Board.

The physical price of Thai rubber dropped 3 percent to 146.10 baht ($4.77) a kilogram yesterday, the Rubber Research Institute of Thailand said on its website. “Overseas buyers have delayed purchases from Thailand and shifted to buy the commodity from other cheaper sources,” the group said.

In Shanghai, September-delivery rubber was little changed at 32,110 yuan ($4,962) a ton.