By Kavita Desai
MUMBAI – Natural rubber futures on the Indian Commodity Exchange ended in the red today, tracking the Tokyo Commodity Exchange where a delay in levy of export curbs in Thailand weighed on sentiment, analysts said.
Rubber futures on TOCOM extended Tuesday’s fall on news that Thailand is likely to delay the implementation of export curbs by over a month due to elections in the country.
Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia, the world’s top rubber producers, had earlier said they would cut exports by a total of 240,000 tn for the four months starting April, to boost prices.
On ICEX, the April contract settled at 13,042 rupees per 100 kg today, down 0.5% from Tuesday’s close. The most active August contract on the Japanese bourse closed at 182.4 yen, down 0.4%.
Weak prices in spot markets also contributed to the downside. In Kochi and Kottayam, the widely traded RSS-4 rubber was quoted 1 rupee lower at 127-128 rupees per kg, traders said.
At many key growing areas, rubber tapping has stopped with the start of the lean season for plantation. Also, there is hardly any demand from tyre companies, said C.J. Augustine, owner of Idukki-based Chettiparambil Traders.
Rubber companies are probably still relying on imported rubber and have not felt the need to buy it in the domestic market, traders said.
In Thailand, price of the RSS-3 grade rubber was down 20 cents at $176.20 per 100 kg. In Malaysia, the SMR-20 grade was down $1.75 at $145.60 per 100 kg, according to data from India’s Rubber Board.
The following table shows today’s closing prices of rubber, in rupees per kg, as detailed by the Rubber Board, and the change in prices, in rupees, compared with the previous close:
| KOTTAYAM | KOCHI | |||
| GRADE | PRICE | CHANGE | PRICE | CHANGE |
| RSS-4 | 128.00 | Unch | 128.00 | Unch |
| RSS-5 | 125.00 | Unch | 125.00 | Unch |
| ISNR-20 | 124.00 | Unch | NA | NA |
| Latex | 82.95 | Unch | NA | NA |
US$1 = 68.87 rupees
Edited by Akshit Harsh
