Natural rubber futures decline as trading volume falls

Tokyo - Rubber futures closed the trading week ended 23 June lower across all major Far East exchanges, the JPX stock exchange has reported.

Prices continued to drift lower on concerns over a weaker Chinese economy, which is expected to result in sluggish rubber demand, said the JPX weekly report 26 June.

Indeed, noted JPX, rubber prices have been weak for the past three months, with sideways trading, creating a challenging environment for traders and producers.

Volumes fell sharply on all exchanges during last week, largely due to a 22-23 June holiday closure of trading in China, added the Japanese exchange.

In Osaka, Japan, pricing for rubber (RSS3) futures for October delivery fell 1.2%, amid "generally quiet" trading activity.

On the other hand, OSE futures 'open interest' reached a new high of 16,290 contracts since November 2020, “attracting significant attention from market participants.”

On China's SHFE and INE exchanges, meanwhile, tracked futures prices fell by 0.6% and 0.4% respectively over the shortened trading week. 

In Singapore SICOM's active September-2023 contract prices dropped 1.7% amid a drop in trading volume of over 15,000 contracts from the previous week.

Natural rubber futures price trends on main trading exchanges