Asian rubber markets settled lower last week in the wake of some weak economic data. The IMF lowered China’s economic growth rate this year from 8 percent to 7.75 percent. Meanwhile, a strong Japanese yen against the dollar and a report on high rubber inventories in China also weighed on and dampened natural rubber prices further.
IRCo’s DCP fell 3.90 US cents/kg to 254.45 US cents/kg on Friday or 1.51% lower than its DCP at 258.35 US cents/kg on Monday. On the other hand, Thai RSS-3 rose a bit from 303.61 US cents/kg on Monday to 305.54 US cent/kg on Friday or gained 1.93 US cents/kg or up 0.64%. In the mean time, Thai STR-20 slipped to 245.69 US cents/kg on Friday, or down 7.48 US cents/kg, or 2.95% lower than its settlement price at 253.17 US cents/kg on Monday. Furthermore, Malaysia SMR20 as well as Indonesia SIR20 also experienced losses during the week. Indonesia SIR20 fell to 238.00 US cents/kg on Friday, or 3.00 US cents/kg or 1.24% from its settlement price at 241.00 US cents/kg on Monday. Similarly, Malaysia SMR20 also settled lower at 244.00 US cents/kg on Friday, or lost 7.00 US cents/kg (2.46%) compared with its settlement price on Monday at 251.00 US cents/kg.
The benchmark rubber contract for November delivery on TOCOM settled at 258.00 yen/kg on Friday, 7.50 US yen/kg or 2.82% lower than its settlement price at 265.90 yen/kg on Monday. Similarly, the Shanghai Futures Commodity Exchange for September delivery also finished the week at18,930.00 Yuan/ton, or 290.00 Yuan/ton or 1.51% lower than its settlement price at 19,220.00 Yuan/ton on Monday. Moreover, AFET RSS-3 for January delivery was also down to 78.05 THB/kg on Friday, or lost 1.25 THB/kg or 1.58% compared with its settlement price at 79.30 THB/kg on Monday.
NR supply in the coming week is expected to remain tight even though the recent wintering season in northern Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand finished earlier this month.
Source: IRCo
