TOCOM rubber extends decline; producers to curb exports

TOKYO (Dec 22): Benchmark Tokyo rubber futures extended declines on Friday and posted their first weekly fall in five weeks amid continued worries about demand, brokers said.

Tokyo Commodity Exchange (TOCOM) futures, which set the tone for tyre rubber prices in Southeast Asia, also came under pressure from a sharp drop in the Shanghai market.

A group of three of the world’s top natural rubber producers will cut exports by up to 350,000 tonnes in total from now until March next year, the Thai agriculture ministry said late on Friday, in a bid to address declining global prices.

The Tokyo Commodity Exchange rubber contract for May delivery finished 3 yen lower at 203.4 yen (US$1.79) per kg, after hitting 202 yen earlier, the lowest since Dec. 12.

The most-active rubber contract on the Shanghai futures exchange for May delivery fell 425 yuan, or 3%, to finish at 14,005 yuan (US$2,130) per tonne.

Rubber inventories in warehouses monitored by the Shanghai Futures Exchange rose 3.9% from last Friday, the exchange said on Friday.

The front-month rubber contract on Singapore’s SICOM exchange for January delivery last traded at 142.50 US cents per kg, down 2.1 cents.

(US$1 = 6.5742 Chinese yuan)

(US$1 = 113.3600 yen)