Rubber Jumps to 11-Week High as China’s Imports Surge to Record

Rubber in Tokyo jumped to the highest level in more than two months after China’s imports surged to a record last month, indicating that demand from the world’s largest user is increasing.

Futures for delivery in May on the Tokyo Commodity Exchange advanced as much as 2.4 percent to 282.3 yen a kilogram ($2,739 a metric ton), the highest level since Sept. 24. The most-active contract traded at 280.6 yen at 10:26 a.m. local time, paring losses this year to 7.1 percent.

TOCOM Rubber Futures Prices on Monday, December 09, 2013 (yen/kilogram)

Month	Last Settlement Price	Open	High	Low	Current	Change	Volume
Dec 2013	267.9	269.2	274.0	268.6	274.0	+6.1	20
Jan 2014	267.8	269.4	273.9	268.9	273.3	+5.5	119
Feb 2014	270.0	271.0	276.0	270.8	275.1	+5.1	314
Mar 2014	271.0	271.5	277.1	271.5	276.2	+5.2	534
Apr 2014	273.9	274.1	280.0	274.1	278.8	+4.9	1,169
May 2014	275.8	276.0	282.3	276.0	280.5	+4.7	6,119
Total							8,275

China’s imports of natural rubber rose to 270,000 tons last month, data from the General Administration of Customs in Beijing showed Dec. 8. That’s 42 percent higher from October and up 25 percent from the same period last year. Purchases in the first 11 months climbed 8.2 percent to 2.13 million tons.

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“The data showing the strength of Chinese demand gave a boost to futures,” said Takaki Shigemoto, an analyst at research company JSC Corp. in Tokyo.

Futures also climbed as Japan’s currency slid to near a six-month low against the dollar, raising the appeal of yen-denominated contracts, Shigemoto said. The yen today fell to 103.22 a dollar as U.S. jobs grew more than economists’ forecast and joblessness fell to a five-year low of 7 percent.

The contract for May delivery on the Shanghai Futures Exchange gained 0.2 percent to 19,575yuan ($3,218) a ton. Thai rubber free-on-board was unchanged at 81.95 baht ($2.54) a kilogram on Dec. 6, according to the Rubber Research Institute of Thailand.

Source: Bloomberg