India Rubber Settles at 1-week low on ICEX tailing TOCOM contracts

MUMBAI – Rubber contracts on the Indian Commodity Exchange settled at a one-week low of 12,710 rupees per 100 kg, down 0.3% from previous close, tailing weakness in benchmark contracts on Tokyo Commodity Exchange, traders said.

Futures contracts of rubber fell over 1% earlier today on TOCOM as the yen strengthened against the dollar, analysts said. Strength in the Japanese currency makes the yen-denominated rubber costlier for overseas buyers. The most active August contract on the Japanese bourse ended down 0.5% at 204.6 yen (128.56 rupees) per kg.

A rise in global output of natural rubber and weakness in crude oil prices on New York Mercantile Exchange also contributed to the downside. Rubber prices take cues from those of crude oil because the latter is used to manufacture synthetic rubber, a substitute for natural rubber.

Output of natural rubber rose 4.6% to 13.96 mln tn in 2018, according to a report by the Association of Natural Rubber Producing Countries.

In Thailand, RSS-3 grade rubber was up 54 cents at $174.10 per 100 kg. However, in Malaysia, the SMR-20 grade variety was down 70 cents at $148.80 per 100 kg, according to data from India's Rubber Board.

Back home, prices of natural rubber in the key spot markets of Kerala, were largely unchanged as weakness in global market offset gains due to ongoing supply crunch in the domestic market, traders said.

In Kottayam and Kochi, the RSS-4 variety was quoted at 128-129 rupees per kg, unchanged from the previous close, traders said. However, data from Rubber Board showed that the RSS-4 variety was quoted unchanged at 128.0 rupees in Kochi and Kottayam, unchanged in former and down 0.50 rupee in the latter. 

The following table shows today's closing prices of rubber, in rupees per kg, as detailed by the Rubber Board, and the change in prices, in rupees, compared with the previous close:

OUTLOOK

In the coming days, prices of natural rubber in the key spot markets of Kerala are likely to rise due to ongoing supply crunch in the market and on expectations of a rise in demand from tyre manufacturers, traders said.  End