[Geofin Comtrade] Daily report on Natural Rubber: May 19, 2016

MARKET COMMENTARY

Decline in crude oil prices coupled with worries over demand from the top natural rubber consumer, China maintained downwards pressure on natural rubber in the major overseas market. On Thursday, TOCOM and SHFE rubber futures are seen stretching losses, with the most active October rubber futures on TOCOM hitting its weakest level in two and a half month. In the local market, however, it traded rather firm on Wednesday. Heavy pre-monsoons rains in the major natural rubber growing areas in Kerala improved the sentiments.

MARKET NEWS

JK Tyre & Industries Ltd has set up a trading arm in Singapore to facilitate natural rubber imports, its Chairman and Managing Director Raghupati Singhania said.

Natural rubber output from the world’s top producing countries will see a nominal rise of about 1.3% in the calendar year 2016 to 11.2 mln tn as a long phase of low prices has hurt planting of the cash crop, Sheela Thomas, secretary-general of the Association of Natural Rubber Producing Countries, said.

China’s rubber imports (both natural and synthetic) in April amounted to 500000 tonnes, down 7.4 percent from a month earlier.

An Action Taken Report (ATR) of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on commerce chaired by ChandanMitra has criticised the Centre for its indifferent attitude towards natural rubber (NR). The report says that the government has been indifferent to the woes of rubber farmers and permitted excess imports, delayed the national policy on rubber and kept key posts in the state-run Rubber Board vacant for more than two years.

According to a deputy chairman of the Rubber Holder Co-operatives Federation of Thailand,the production of natural rubber has fallen about 50% from January to April year-on-year due to the drought.

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Geofin Comtrade