TOKYO, April 24 (Reuters) – Benchmark Tokyo rubber futures hit a one-week high on Monday, helped by speculation that big natural rubber producers may limit exports, and a decline in Japanese rubber inventories.
Thailand, Indonesia, and Malaysia might limit exports of natural rubber to reduce price volatility, the head of International Rubber Consortium, an industry body set up by the three countries, said on Friday.
President Titus Suksaard gave no indication as to when this could happen or by how much exports would be reduced.
Tokyo Commodity Exchange (TOCOM) futures, which set the tone for tyre rubber prices in Southeast Asia, also got support from a weaker yen against the dollar, dealers said.
Data from the Rubber Trade Association of Japan also showed on Monday that crude rubber inventories at Japanese ports stood at 4,244 tonnes as of April 10, down 4.1 percent from the last inventory date.
The Tokyo Commodity Exchange rubber contract for September delivery finished 1.2 yen, or 0.6 percent, higher at 217.2 yen ($1.97) per kg. The front-month contract for April delivery expired on Monday.
The most-active rubber contract on the Shanghai futures exchange for September delivery fell 20 yuan to finish at 14,815 yuan ($2,151) per tonne.
The front-month rubber contract on Singapore’s SICOM exchange for May delivery last traded at 156 U.S. cents per kg, down 0.4 cent.
($1 = 110.0300 yen)
($1 = 6.8869 Chinese yuan)
(Reporting by Osamu Tsukimori; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu)
