London – It might not have been by much but, after several weeks of market declines, the set of natural rubber prices monitored by ERJ, finally managed to inch upwards.
Shanghai Future Exchange prices for September trades closed of Yuan12,310/tonne on 17 July to finish the week 1.2 percent above the prior-week level
October contracts for natural rubber also entered positive territory among Chinese dealers, lifting 0.6 percent to Yuan12,050/tonne.
On the Tokyo Commodity Exchange, the back month price for natural rubber came in at Yen208.8 as of 15 July – 1 percent lower than a week earlier.
Optimists in Tokyo pointed out that the decline was less sharp that the 3.7-percent drop seen in the previous seven-day period.
In Bangkok, prices for RSS3 grade rubber edged up by 0.5 percent in the seven days to 17 July.
On the Kuala Lumpur exchange, prices for SMR20 registered an even slighter 0.3 percent week-on-week rise to finish at $145.10/100kg on 17 July.
The general stabilisation was being linked to reports of a drop in production due to poor weather, as well as continuing efforts by exporting countries to tackle oversupply in the natural rubber markets.