[Geofin Comtrade] Daily report on Natural Rubber: May 25, 2016

MARKET COMMENTARY

Natural rubber is seen steadying after the recent slide in the international market. On Wednesday, TOCOM and SHFE rubber futures inched up with the most active October rubber futures on TOCOM gaining more than three per cent earlier today. Rise in crude oil and weaker yen may have aided prices.

In the local market, meanwhile, the commodity ended lower in the spot market on Wednesday while in the futures segment, a bounce was seen.

MARKET NEWS

⊳China may open up its commodities futures markets to overseas and financial investors, the country’s securities regulator said, as the world’s top consumer of many raw materials seeks to play a larger role in setting global commodities prices.

⊳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 tonne 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 Chandan Mitra 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.

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Geofin Comtrade