MARKET COMMENTARY
Natural rubber had seen steading in the major overseas market after falling sharply.
Following an initial plunge to seven year lows, TOCOM rubber futures are seen bouncing back though it is poised to register its biggest weekly decline in four months.
Weakness prevailed in local natural rubber market. Quotes for RSS4 grade rubber fell below Rs.100 a kg. Broad weakness in the major overseas market coupled with poor local demand weighed on.
MARKET NEWS
China imported 500,000 tons of natural and synthetic rubber in November 2015, representing an increase of 51.5 per cent compared to the same month of 2014, according to statistics released by the General Administration of Customs of China.
The Thai government threatened on Thursday to cut rubber export quotas if traders did not play their part in stemming a slide in prices that has taken the value of the raw material to a seven-year low.
Thailand’s Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives will lend another 5 billion baht to rubber farmers seeking to do extra jobs during the ongoing price slump.
New plantings of rubber have been on a decline over the last three years and were down around 19% in 2014-15 (Apr-Mar), the Ministry of Commerce and Industry said.The total area under newly planted and replanted rubber trees was at 32,000 ha in 2014-15, down 11.1% from 36,000 ha a year ago.
India’s natural rubber production in November declined 16.7 percent to 50000tonnes according to the data from the Rubber Board. Imports declined as well by 13.7 per cent to 37445 tonnes.
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Geofin Comtrade
