ANRPC reports NR price improvement

Kuala Lumpur – The Association of Natural Rubber Producing Countries (ANRPC) has reported an improvement in pricing of block natural rubber (NR) and latex over the first nine months of 2016.

In its Natural Rubber Trends & Statistics for September, ANRPC linked the gains to “favourable supply-demand fundamentals and a considerable recovery in crude oil price.”

According to the association, total consumption of NR among its members – accounting to 65 percent of global consumption –  increased 3.5 percent, year-on-year, compared to the same period in 2015.

Total NR production by the ANRPC member countries remained stagnant during the first three quarters compared to the same period a year ago.  These 11 countries account for 90 percent of global output.

However, longer term prospects of NR pricing remains mixed, according to a keynote address at the National Rubber Economic Conference 2016 in Kuala Lumpur.

Global NR supply would continue to exceed demand, Ku Kok Peng of the Academy Hevea Malaysia, forecast in a presentation to the conference on 27 Sept

World consumption of NR is expected to increase by CAGR of 3 percent from 2015-2025, while supply will increase by 2.9 percent, Ku’s presentation showed.

But while, he said, the situation would approach parity in 2022 and 2023, the NR market would return to oversupply over the following two years.