Rubber rallied to the highest level in more than two months on optimism that China’s stabilizing economy would lead to higher demand from the top consumer of the commodity used in tires.
Rubber for delivery in January on the Tokyo Commodity Exchange rose as much as 1.9 percent to 266.3 yen a kilogram ($2,769 a metric ton), the highest level for the most-active contract since May 29. Futures traded at 263.2 yen at 10:14 a.m. Singapore time after gaining 5.3 percent last week, the most since the five days to July 19.
China’s exports, imports and industrial output rose more than estimated in July, adding to signs the economy is stabilizing, data showed last week. Natural rubber purchases gained 16 percent in July from a month earlier to 150,000 tons, the government said Aug. 8.
The “jump in natural rubber imports in July means that China’s demand in the second half will be better than the first half of this year,” said Gu Jiong, an analyst at commodity broker Yutaka Shoji Co. The Chinese government “may make some positive financial policy just to push up demand,” he said by phone from Tokyo today.
Prices may climb to 275 yen by the end of this year, Gu said. Rubber imports by China may rise 6.6 percent to 3.59 million tons in 2013, the Association of Natural Rubber Producing Countries said on Aug. 2.
Rubber for delivery in January gained 0.5 percent to 19,435 yuan ($3,176) a ton on the Shanghai Futures Exchange.
Thai rubber free-on-board gained 1.3 percent to 79.50 baht ($2.54) a kilogram on Aug. 9, according to the Rubber Research Institute of Thailand.
Natural-rubber inventories climbed 275 tons to 118,188 tons, based on a survey of nine warehouses in Shanghai, Shandong, Yunnan, Hainan and Tianjin, according to the Shanghai Futures Exchange last week.
