Rubber price recovery in start-stop mode

London - Prior-week signs of stability in Asia’s natural rubber markets were mostly erased by data garnered this week from the main trading exchanges.

All bar one of the centres in China, Malaysia, Thailand and Japan, registered declines in rubber pricing from the previous trading-week.

In Bangkok, prices for RSS3 fell 2.2 percent week-on-week to $179.35/100kg as of 26 June, while in Kuala Lumpur prices for SMR20 registered an 1.3-percent decline to $155.00/100kg.

In Tokyo, however, Tocom posted an 1.1-percent rise in back-month prices to Yen232.2/kg over the seven days to 24 June. Near-month prices were, meanwhile, almost unchanged at Yen232.3/kg.

Many traders seemed to take their cue from buyers on the Shanghai Futures Exchange (SHFE), where the weekly close price for September futures ended at Yuan13,380/tonne – 2.5-percent below the prior-week figure.

Likewise, futures prices for October contracts on the SHFE, at Yuan13,210/tonne, were 2.7-percent down on the previous week’s trading.

It remains to be seen if these latest downturns represent a blip or the start of a renewed slide.

Markets had been buoyed by reported declines of up to 20-percent in rubber stocks in Chinese warehouses over recent months.

Sellers have been further encouraged by signs of continued recovery in crude oil prices, as well as a  linked improvements in synthetic rubber pricing.