Monday, September 8, 2014

Still rubber under pressure


The National Science Foundation has awarded $800,000 to University of Akron (Ohio-United States) researcher Judit E. Puskas for her project to create a halogen-free synthetic rubber made from renewable resources. This funding will help push new eco-friendly materials to market. If successful, Puskas’ research project will result in a new material that will reduce the carbon footprint of the SR manufacturing process and produce improved, cost-effective thermoplastic biocompatible rubber, according to University of Akron.

Thailand military government has sold half of its 200,000 tonne rubber stockpile to a Thai rubber exporter and aims to sell the rest by the end of September. The government has signed a contract with the exporter and rest of the rubber stock should be cleared up from the state warehouses within three months. The 100,000 tonnes of rubber was sold at 62.60 baht ($1.95) a kg.

Despite light rain, Thiru Onam, the most important day in the 10 day long festival, was celebrated across Kerala with a lavish 26 dish traditional vegetarian lunch. People were in a festive mood, while a few from the central district of Kerala recalled the celebration days when the rubber prices were at its peak.

A slowdown in demand along with oversupply in the global markets, natural rubber prices have fallen to its five year low, while domestic imports have increased. Now the planters seek safeguards in the form of hike in import or anti-dumping duty to sustain their business in face of rising production costs. If the price decline continues, majority of planters will be forced to abandon rubber cultivation or switch over to other activities.

The benchmark RSS4 grade rubber closed at `.125.50 a kg at Kottayam, while RSS3 grade closed at `.105.62 a kg at Bangkok and Malaysian SMR20 closed at `.97.94 a kg. On National Multi Commodity Exchange September 2014 futures were trading at `.121.94 a kg, October at `.120.62, November at `.120.70 and December at `.121.50 a kg, at 16.20 IST. On Tokyo Commodity Exchange, September 2014 futures series closed at ¥184.7 a kg, October at ¥185.5, November at ¥189.5, December at ¥192.9, January 2015 at ¥195.4 and the contract for delivery in February 2015 closed at ¥196.6 a kg.

For 2014-15 Rubber Forecast, http://rubber4u.com/Public/RForecast.pdf

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