China may buy local rubber for stockpiles

ERJ staff report (TP)

Beijing − China, the world’s largest rubber user, may increase government stockpiles this week to support farmers and mop up oversupply after local prices slumped, said Orient Futures Co., reported Feiwen Rong for Bloomberg News.

Officials from the State Reserve Bureau will meet in Beijing today (5 December) with executives from Sinochem International Corp., China Hainan Rubber Industry Group Co. and Yunnan State Farms Group Co., the three biggest domestic suppliers, said Yan Xinbing, an analyst at Orient Futures, citing talks with the companies. The bureau bought about 100,000 tonnes in the past month from the suppliers, Yang said.

“It’s likely to buy more locally produced latex rubber in a move to support farmers and producers,” Yan said.

The bureau, which is responsible for stockpiling strategic raw materials such as natural rubber, copper, aluminium and zinc, hasn’t commented publicly on the matter. Two calls and a fax to the press office of the National Development of Reform Commission, which oversees the bureau, weren’t immediately answered. Calls to the three suppliers went unanswered.

Rubber traded in Shanghai fell 26 percent this year and closed at 19,615 yuan (€2,369) a tonne on 4 December. Futures on the Tokyo Commodity Exchange have slumped 9.3 percent in 2013 and settled at 274.5 yen (€1.97) a kg.

Inventories tracked by the Shanghai Futures Exchange rose to 172,022 tonnes on 21 November, the highest level in nine years, before retreating to 150,978 tonnes last week, data from nine warehouses in Shanghai, Shandong, Yunnan, Hainan and Tianjin, showed.

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