KUALA LUMPUR — Regional positive sentiment is set to continue to drive up prices on the Malaysian rubber market next week, said a dealer. Initiatives taken by Thailand government to help shore up rubber prices by buying rubber from its farmers will balance supply and demand in the market. “This would also influence natural rubber prices on other regional markets,” the dealer told Bernama. Last week, the Malaysian Cabinet allocated RM648 million to buy 100,000 tonnes of unsmoked rubber sheets from farmers.
The government will pay RM5.407 for each kg of rubber sheets, much higher than the market price of RM4.445 per kg, for the benefit of 850,000 farmers.
The dealer, however, said demand from China is expected to remain low next week given the country’s slow pace of growth. China is the world’s largest consumer of rubber to cater mainly to its automobile and tyre industries. On a Fridayto- Friday basis, the Malaysian Rubber Board’s sellers’ official physical price for tyre-grade SMR 20 rose nine sen to 479.5 sen a kg, while in-bulk chalked up 34.5 sen to 376 sen a kg.
The unofficial closing price for tyre-grade SMR 20 increased 12.5 sen to 479 sen a kg, while latex-in-bulk advanced 34 sen to 378 sen a kg.
