Natural rubber futures prices perk up

Tokyo - World rubber futures closed higher in most major exchanges in the trading week ended 3 March, Japan’s JPX exchange has reported. 

In Osaka, August-2023 contracts on the OSE edged up JPY4.8 to Yen229.8 in active trading “dominated mainly by speculative short-term trading,” said its weekly report issued 6 March.

SICOM's active June-2023 contracts closed 0.9 cents higher at 143.8 last week, JPX noting scope for “further upside potential” on the Singapore exchange.

Market conditions there, it added, suggest “there is no longer any large physical surplus in the short term, and there could be a further price-increase potential in the longer term.” 

The weekly report did not include commentary about pricing moves on the SHFE and INE exchanges in China, though data in the report indicated a relatively flat scenario.

JPX went on to link the positive, overall pricing trends to the onset of the rain season in many ASEAN producing countries, which could support rubber prices in the coming weeks. 

The beginning of the wintering season, which usually starts from March to the end of April, is also supportive of rubber prices, JPX further pointed out. 

On the other hand, it noted ANRPC data predicting global rubber consumption to remain flat in 2023 at 14.738 million tonnes but production to increase by 2.5% to 14.693 million tonnes.