Rubber futures decline as China reports slowdown in growth

Tokyo – Natural rubber (NR) futures closed the week ending 21 July lower across all major Far East exchanges, according to the Japanese Stock Exchange JPX.

Driven by “stop-loss selling backed by speculative selling”, the declines represented concerns over a slowing Chinese economy, JPX reported 24 July.

Potential deflationary conditions in China dampened rubber demand and exerted further downward pressure on prices, added the weekly NR trading review.

On 17 July, China reported a second quarter GDP growth rate of 6.3%, considerably lower than market expectations of 7.1%.

On the Osaka exchange in Japan, OSE rubber futures (RSS3) for December delivery dropped 1.6% from the prior-week, due to “the liquidation of long positions.”

Similarly, in active trading in China, NR futures pricing fell by 2.3% week-on-week on both the SHFE and INE exchanges.

On Singapore’s SICOM exchange, NR futures recorded a nearly 3% drop, driven by new speculative selling activities.

Natural rubber futures price trends on main trading exchanges