IRCo’s WEEKLY RUBBER MARKET SNAPSHOT: 23 – 27 July 2012

Asian rubber markets settled mixed last week whereas the European Central Bank gave a signal to defend the euro zone, and hoped that the U.S Federal Reserve would announce more easing measures to boost the U.S. economic growth in the coming week. Meanwhile, a Thai rubber support program to revive rubber prices has created a positive impact on NR prices at a certain level in spot and future markets in Thailand at the end of the week.

 IRCo’s DCP rose slightly from 292.34 US cents/kg on Monday to 292.60 US cents/kg on Friday, or gained of 0.10%. In the mean time, Thailand RSS-3 fell from 310.87 US cents/kg on Monday to 304.91 US cents/kg on Friday, or down 1.92%. Thai STR-20 also slid from 294.02 US cents/kg on Monday to 292.71 US cent/kg on Friday, or lost 0.45%. In contrast, Indonesia SIR20 climbed slightly from 285.00 US cents/kg on Monday to 287.00 US cents/kg on Friday, or gained 0.70%. Furthermore, Malaysia SMR20 also settled 2 US cents/kg higher at 287.00 US cents/kg on Friday, or 0.69% higher than its settlement prices at 291.00 US cents/kg on Monday.

 The benchmark rubber contract for January delivery on TOCOM settled 3.30 yen/kg higher at 235.00 yen/kg on Friday, or gained 1.42% from its settlement price on Monday. In addition, AFET RSS-3 for February delivery also rose from 95.85 THB/kg on Monday to 96.70 THB/kg on Friday, or up 0.85 THB/kg or 0.89%. On the other hand, Shanghai Commodity Exchange for January delivery slid from 23,115.00 Yuan/ton on Monday to 22,505.00 Yuan/ton on Friday, or lost 610.00 Yuan/ton, or 2.64%.

NR supply is expected to be tight until late next month partly due to the Ramadan.

Source: IRCo