Natural rubber futures fall for third week

Tokyo – Natural rubber (NR) futures closed lower across all major Far East exchanges for a third consecutive week, amid continued position liquidation and speculative profit-taking.

Over the week ended 30 Oct, weaker global equity markets, a slowing Chinese economy and expectations of further interest rate increases weighed on commodity prices, including rubber, reported Japan Exchange Group (JPX) in its latest report.

Chinese funds were estimated to have liquidated nearly 220 kilotonnes of futures positions, although some buying interest emerged at lower price levels as rubber futures gave back recent gains.

In Osaka, Japan, OSE rubber contract for March 2027 declined 2.2% week-on-week amid moderate trading.

According to JPX, OSE prices have declined for three consecutive weeks as “the recent upward momentum has faded.”

While the longer-term uptrend remains intact, prices testing the 50-day moving average signalled possible “short-term weakness,” the exchange group said.

On China's Shanghai Futures Exchange (SHFE) and International Energy Exchange (INE), meanwhile, rubber futures declined 3.4% and 2.2%, respectively.

In Singapore, SICOM's January-2027 contract ended the week down 2.5% as recent rallies appeared to have “lost momentum,” with profit-taking and fresh selling pushing prices lower.