Natural rubber price rally continues apace

London – Natural rubber (NR) prices are continuing to gain momentum in a rally that started two months ago, ERJ’s latest snapshot of market trends in Asia shows.

On the Shanghai Futures Exchange (SHFE), the closing price for the most heavily traded NR future 1701 was Yuan15,115/tonne  on 9 Nov. This was 5.1% above its level of about a month ago (14 Oct).

In Bangkok, meanwhile, prices for RSS1 and RSS3 grades increased by 5.8% and 5.0% – to $181.05/100kg and $177.80/100kg – respectively between 7 Oct and 9 Nov. Kuala Lumpur prices for SMR-20 meanwhile lifted 8.0% to $158.80 over the same trading period.

Similar gains were reported in Japan, with back-month prices for the benchmark reference material RSS3 rising by 4.3% between 5 Oct and 2 Nov to Yen178.0/kg.

Indeed, news service Nikkei reported NR prices at a six-month high, with contract prices for RSS3 rubber sheets for April 2017 delivery trading at Yen189.8/kgearlier this week.

The Japanese report linked the NR gains to a knock-on effect from rising prices butadiene prices, which had helped push up prices for synthetic rubber. Other factors it said, included speculative buying on the SHFE, strengthening car sales in China and concern about NR output in Thailand.