Once again rubber at its eight month low

The recent devaluation of the yuan was aimed at helping Chinese exporters, but it would hurt the country's importers or reduce demand for imports of commodities including rubber. According to Rubber Trade Association of Japan data, the crude rubber inventories at Japanese ports stood at 16,241 tonnes as of 31st July, up by 18.3% from the last inventory date. The benchmark Tokyo Commodity Exchange (TOCOM) rubber futures fell to an 8 month low on Tuesday, tracking a drop in Shanghai futures and persistent worries over weakening demand for rubber in China and also gloomy outlook due to fall in oil prices. The TOCOM rubber contract for January delivery finished at ¥186.9 a kg. Earlier the price fell to a low of ¥189.7 a kg, the lowest since 11th December 2014. Rubber price is further expected to go down.

The benchmark RSS4 grade rubber closed at `.116.50 a kg at Kottayam, while RSS3 grade closed at `.97.14 a kg at Bangkok and Malaysian SMR20 closed at `.85.60 a kg. On National Multi Commodity Exchange September 2015 futures closed at `.114.21 a kg and October at `.114.20 a kg. On Tokyo Commodity Exchange, August 2015 futures series closed at ¥177.2 a kg, September at ¥179.2, October at ¥181.6, November at ¥183.6, December 2015 at ¥185.8 and the contract for delivery in January 2016 closed at ¥186.9 a kg. On Wednesday, most probably Tocom futures contract for delivery in January 2016 may trade in the range of ¥180 & ¥186 a kg.

To read Rubber4U – 15th August 2015 issue: http://rubber4u.com/Public/Abcd.pdf