Rubber traded near a three-month high as U.S. car sales expanded more than analyst estimates and as speculation grew that farmers may disrupt shipments from Thailand, the largest producer and exporter.
Rubber for delivery in February advanced as much as 0.8 percent to 283.5 yen a kilogram ($2,837 a metric ton) on the Tokyo Commodity Exchange, nearing a three-month high of 287.9 yen reached yesterday. Futures swung between gains and losses and traded at 282.8 yen at 2:16 p.m. local time.
U.S. car and light truck sales rose 17 percent to 1.5 million units in August, the most since May 2007, according to researcher Autodata Corp. That exceeded the 14 percent rise to 1.47 million that was the average of 10 analyst estimates in a survey by Bloomberg News.
“U.S. car sales are positive for rubber demand,” said Takaki Shigemoto, an analyst at research company JSC Corp. “Thai farmers’ protest is another support to the market.”
In Thailand, about 3,200 rubber farmers blocked roads in the southern provinces of Nakhon Sri Thammarat, Trang and Surat Thani to pressure the government to help boost prices, police spokesman Piya Uthayo told reporters yesterday.
Tapping of rubber trees may decline because of the demonstrations, and shipments could be delayed by about a week, said Luckchai Kittipol, chief executive officer of Thai Hua Pcl, the country’s third-largest rubber exporter.
Thailand produces about 360,000 tons of rubber a month during August and September, according to the Association of Natural Rubber Producing Countries.
Thai rubber free-on-board dropped 0.9 percent to 85.65 baht ($2.66) a kilogram today, according to data from the Rubber Research Institute of Thailand. The contract for January delivery declined 0.5 percent to 20,585 yuan ($3,364) a ton on the Shanghai Futures Exchange.
Source: Bloomberg
