Asian rubber settled lower Thursday as market confidence remained persistently poor amid forecasts of a supply surplus this year.
February natural rubber on the Tokyo Commodity Exchange settled 3.8 yen lower at Y179.6 ($1.64) a kilogram while the new benchmark March contract opened at Y184.5/kg and settled at Y180.9 a kilogram.
The International Rubber Consortium said in a note this week that the market was “misled” by weak sentiment. The organization was forecasting global natural rubber stocks at 2.3 million-2.5 million metric tons, far lower than industry forecasts of more than three million tons. Natural-rubber production was likely to fall 2.3% from a year ago to 11.84 million tons as supply from major producers has dropped 1.6% year-over-year in the first half of 2014, the group added. Auto sales in major markets was also increasing steadily in the first eight months of the year.
March Tocom rubber closed Y1.5 higher at Y182.4/kg in the night session, which is considered part of the next trading day.
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