Natural rubber supply and demand dip in October

Kuala Lumpur – The global production of natural rubber (NR) declined for the fourth consecutive month in October, as demand, particularly from China, remained subdued, the Association of Natural Rubber Producing Countries (ANRPC) has announced.

The NR supply fell 0.6% year-on-year to 1.331 million tonnes, due mainly to lower production recorded in Thailand, Vietnam, India and rest of the world as compared to the same period last year, said the ANRPC's October NR trends review on 22 Nov.

As a result, the world production during the third quarter recorded a fall of 2.0% to 3.661 million tonnes.

However, the association said it expected the supply situation to improve slightly in November with a 0.9% growth to 1.388 million tonnes.

Demand also fell during October, due in part to a decline in manufacturing activities and fewer working days in China following a week-long holiday earlier in the month. 

China’s NR consumption fell 9.3% to 483,000 tonnes during October while global demand during the month declined 3.7% to 1.141 million tonnes.

ANRPC said it expected demand to improve slightly in November.

For the full year, the association has marginally increased production outlook to 13.836 million tonnes, 49,000 tonnes higher than the outlook reported in September. The figure will represent an annual growth of 1.8% over 2020.

On the demand side, ANRPC trimmed down the outlook to 14.028 million tonnes from the estimate of 14.116 million tonnes in September. This, it said, will represent a year-on-year growth of 8.3% over 2020.