Green shoots start to appear in natural rubber markets

Article originally published in the Jan/Feb edition of European Rubber Journal magazine

London - Natural rubber prices are starting to show signs of stability and even revival in the main trading centres of the Far East.

The fledgling recovery is being linked to talks among the main producer countries – Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand – to take renewed steps to shore up prices.

Back month prices for RSS3 on the Tocom exchange continued a steady climb, from around Yen162/kg on 1 Nov to reach levels as high as Yen181/kg in early January.

Back month contract prices for the recently introduced benchmark TSR20 grade increased 3.4% between 1 Nov 2018 and 8 Jan to reach a value of Yen152/kg.

On the Shanghai Futures Exchange (SHFE) in the first week of January, the most heavily traded rubber future RU1905 increased to Yuan11,675 on 4 Jan – 1% higher than two months ago.

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