NR prices unlikely to fall significantly - IRCo

ERJ staff report (DS)

Kuala Lumpur -- The acting chief executive of the International Rubber Consortium, Yium Tavarolit said today that rubber prices are unlikely to fall sharply for the remainder of the first half of 2011 after intense declines recently.

"I don't know if prices have bottomed out, but I don't expect rubber prices falling sharply again in the first half of the year," said Yium, who is also chief secretary and economist at IRCo.

Benchmark natural rubber futures on the bellwether Tokyo Commodity Exchange rose to a record high of Y535.7 a kilogram on 18 Feb. in an extended rally that saw prices hitting successive record highs from December before falling sharply in the last two weeks. Many in the trade, including Yium, attributed the rise to excessive speculation.

ERJ published a report on 18 Feb arguing that Super-traders in South-East Asia are buying cuplump and stockpiling it, to manipulate themarket.

Prices on international rubber exchanges bounced a little overnight, from yesterday's lows.

On Tokyo's TOCOM Exchange, prices for the six-month contract remained steady, closing at yen 414.5 ($5.00) per kilo on Thursday 10 March.

In Singapore, Sicom said short-dated RSS3 prices closed down over $0.25 at $5.18 on minimal trading, after falling as low as $5.12. Short-dated TSR 20 fell almost $0.05 to close at $4.48

India's NMCE prices were mixed, with March deliveries finishing unchanged at around Rs 220 ($4.88) per kilo

Shanghai Future Exchange eased somewhat, with the highest price recorded at yuan 37.3 ($5.76) per kilo for short-dated contracts, down slightly on yesterday's numbers. Longer-dated contracts were priced around Yuan 36

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Statement on pricing from IRCo

David Shaw's Blog on why rubber prices are so high (from 18 Feb)

Rubber prices on Tocom (Tokyo)

Rubber prices on Sicom (Singapore)

Rubber prices on NMCE (India)

Rubber prices on SFE (Shanghai)

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The Hindu Business Line (India)

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