KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia—The Malaysian Rubber Board has forecast a less gloomy 2015 for rubber, saying it is “expected to recover” from the declines and doldrums of last year.
In its December review, the board said “The natural rubber industry is expected to recover in 2015, supported by increased demand from consuming countries amid low supply.”
The brighter prospects, said the board, would be supported by China’s mounting demand for the commodity, which has been on the increase since 2014.
The review went on to forecast that demand is expected to exceed the world’s supply of natural rubber helped in part by measures being taken by the International Tripartite Rubber Council consisting of Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia to curb the fall in the commodities prices.
According to the review, in December 2014 the Kuala Lumpur rubber market saw a mixed trend following a further fall in crude oil prices. Another factor was the positive sentiment brought by the disruption of raw material supply owing to heavy rain and flood in both peninsular Malaysia and southern Thailand.
Meanwhile, the Thai-based International Rubber Consortium reported on the first week of rubber exchange in Asia in 2015. It said rubber futures declined during the week because of a continued fall in crude oil prices, stronger yen against the dollar, volatile global stock markets and traders were on the sidelines in order to see clearer cues.
IRCo said that physical rubber markets in the region were mostly range-bound contributed by tight rubber supply resulted from the recent heavy floods in southern Thailand and northern Malaysia.
The report added that rubber prices expected to remain range-bound in the coming week as traders and investors are awaiting a clearer direction of the global economy for this year.
– Rubber News
