TOKYO (Dec 11): Benchmark Tokyo rubber futures extended declines on Friday, hitting a one-week low, as the market struggled under the weight of excess supply and weak oil prices added pressure.
The Tokyo Commodity Exchange rubber contract for May delivery <0#2JRU:> finished 0.5 yen lower at 168 yen per kg to end the week down 1.2%. The contract fell 2.4% on Thursday.
The contract, which hit a low of 165.7 yen, the lowest since Dec 2, has been pressured by worries over slowing demand by the top consumer China.
“Crude prices are falling as well as the dollar/yen and the selling pressure is not ending after falls in the last few days,” said a source with a Tokyo-based broker.
Crude oil prices remained at levels not seen since early 2009 on Friday as output in the Middle East continued to rise despite an already huge global glut, with analysts saying the price outlook for the rest of the year and into 2016 remained weak.
India’s natural rubber imports in November dropped nearly 14% from a year earlier to 32,308 tonnes, a government official, who declined to be named, told Reuters on Friday.
Rubber inventories in warehouses monitored by the Shanghai Futures Exchange rose 9.3% from last Friday to 220.3 million tonnes, the exchange said on Friday. ShFE stockpiles reached 230.8 million tonnes in the week ending November 20, the most since 2004.
The most-active rubber contract on the Shanghai futures exchange for May delivery rose 130 yuan to finish at 10,235 yuan per tonne.
The front-month rubber contract on Singapore’s SICOM exchange for January delivery last traded at 116.3 U.S. cents per kg, down 0.4 cent.
