ANRPC notes rubber price recovery

Kuala Lumpur – Prices for natural rubber (NR) showed signs of recovery across physical markets during December 2020, the Association of Natural Rubber Producing Countries has reported.

Average prices for SMR-20 closed at US$1.57 per kg in December 2020, up from US$1.56 per kg recorded in November, according to in ANRPC’s Natural Rubber Trends & Statistics December 2020.

For STR-20, the average monthly price in December 2020 recovered from US$1.58 per kg in November 2020 to US$1.60 per kg. 

Both average prices of rubber sheets namely RSS-3 in Bangkok and RSS-4 in Kottayam have posted 1.2% growth and 2.5% growth in December 2020 while comparing to November 2020, respectively. 

The end-of year strengthening in prices was despite continuing uncertainty due to the unprecedented events of 2020, noted the association’s latest monthly report, issued 11 Jan. 

Markets for the commodity were also supported by a weaker US dollar and uptrend in Brent crude oil prices during December.

“The global economy is seeing some light at the end of the tunnel with expectation over China’s economic outlook leading the global recovery from the impact of Covid-19 with its robust export growth, strong government spending and low infection rate,” ANRPC commented.

The World Bank, it noted, has recently released its forecast growth for the world economy to expand by 4.0% in 2021, recover from a contraction of 4.3% in 2020. 

“A vaccine-led economy will be a game changer to sustain the recovery from pandemic-hit economy globally,” concluded ANRPC, cautioning however that containment measures remained essential worldwide.