During the week of 13 – 17 July 2015, natural rubber (NR) prices in futures and physical markets inAsia continued to improve. The improvement was supported by the weakening of Japanese Yen and positive development in global stock markets. In addition to that, NR supply is a little tight as in physical markets. Markets were closed on 17 July 2015 for Eid-ul Fitr celebration in Southern Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia. Moreover, hot weather continued to affect NR supply in major producing countries due to El-Nino.
It is expected that NR prices in futures and physical markets would further improve in the coming week if positive factors as highlighted above remains, supported by the tightness of NR production and the weakening of Japanese Yen.
