KOTTAYAM, INDIA (Commodity Online): Natural rubber market is likely to remain highly volatile considering the present situation, according to Ms Sheela Thomas, Chairman, Rubber Board.
Apart from demand- supply relations, the natural rubber (NR) price is influenced by many factors such as weather, currency exchange rates, oil prices, policy changes in major countries and speculative factors, she said while delivering presidential address at the 170th meeting of the Rubber Board here.
As per the report from International Rubber Study Group (IRSG), the world production of NR during April to december 2012 increased by 3.2% whereas consumption of NR declined marginally by 1.1%. Consumption of NR in the US and EU countries declined considerably during the period. Consumption of NR in Japan and South Korea also declined. Growth in NR consumption in China also remains slow. According to ISRG projections, world production and consumption of NR would be at 11.41 and 10.95 million tonnes respectively with a surplus of 460000 tonnes during the year 2012. World NR production and consumption in 2013 would be 11.77 and 11.59 million tonnes with a surplus of 179,000 tonnes, Chairman added.
Domestic production of NR during April-December 2012 is estimated provisionally as 693200 tonnes. Consumption during this period was 742,330 tonnes with a growth of 3.2 over the corresponding period in the previous year. However consumption of NR during November and December declined by 4% and 8% respectively. Import and export of NR during April to December 2012 were 168,686 and 10,608 tonnes respectively. Import of NR through duty free channels accounted for 46% of the total during the period. Production and consumption of NR for the year 2012-13 are projected at 920,000 tonnes and 970,000 tonnes respectively. The projected closing stock of NR in 2012 -13 is 290,000 tonnes.
Source: Commodity Online
