Thai NR tender, Covid resurgence add to April price woes

Kuala Lumpur – The resurgence of Covid, particularly in India, and the Thai government’s reported move to sell natural rubber (NR) through local tenders impacted markets in April, according to a recent report by the Association of Natural Rubber Producing Countries (ANRPC).

Markets, both in futures and the physical markets, moved without exhibiting a clear trend during April 2021. 

The prices did move down for a few days in the first half of April due mainly to the second wave of Covid in India, said ANRPC in a 7 May market analysis report.

In addition, the government of Thailand reportedly sold 104,000 tonnes of NR from state inventories by inviting tenders from interested local buyers, a move which ANRPC said impacted prices. 

While the sale was completed in the second half of April, the news reached the market a few days earlier as the government had to initiate the administrative processes including invitation of tenders, ANRPC noted.

In addition, lower crude oil prices, in response to the resurgence of Covid-19 cases in India and Japan, contribued to the the drop in prices. 

In the second half of the month, prices saw a “slow and hesitant recovery.”

The ANRPC linked the increase to strong evidence of a faster economic recovery in China, the 6.4% economic growth in the US over the first quarter of 2021 and the UK’s projected 7.8% economic growth this year.