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MARKET NEWS & UPDATES

*Natural rubber traded on a firmer note in the domestic as well as in the overseas market in the week gone by. Concerns over supplies from the top natural rubber producing country, Thailand due to unfavourable weather, firmer crude oil prices and rise in auto sales improved market sentiments. Also, lean production phase is set to begin.

*Japan's Osaka rubber futures posted gains for the fifth straight week in the week gone by.

* RSS4 grade rubber in the Indian market rose to its highest level in more than six months.

* As of 12 January, rubber inventories in warehouses monitored by the Shanghai Futures Exchange rose 1.8 per cent to 194377 tons from previous Friday.

*China imported 723,000 million tonnes of rubber in December, up 5.55% month-on-month, and imported 7,952,000 million tonnes of rubber in 2023, up 8% from 2022.

* Malaysia's natural rubber production decreased 6.9 percent month-on-month in November 2023 to 30,669 tons, official data showed. The Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM) said in a statement that year-on-year comparison showed that the production of natural rubber increased 9.3 percent. Meanwhile, exports of Malaysia's natural rubber decreased 8.9 percent month on month to 51,437 tons in November 2023. China remained as the main destination for Malaysia's natural rubber exports which accounted for 48.3 percent of total exports in November 2023. This was followed by Germany (8.9 percent), Iran (5.7 percent), the United States (4 percent) and Pakistan (2.8 percent). Malaysia's natural rubber total stocks increased 13.2 percent month on month to 172,335 tons in November 2023.

* Vietnam's rubber exports reached about 2.14 million tons worth $2.89 billion in 2023, down 0.04% in volume and 12.7% in value compared to 2022, according to the Ministry of Industry and Trade. The lower export turnover was driven by a 12.7% year-on-year decrease in average export price to $1,350 per ton during last year. In 2023, Vietnam's rubber exports faced many difficulties due to a sharp decrease in prices, causing export value to fall from the same period last year. Meanwhile, the restoration of production activities in China was weaker than forecast, leaving consumption and the price of rubber low.

* China's government said on Dec 11 that it has started offering insurance for natural rubber producers, to encourage higher output and increase the country’s self-sufficiency rate in producing the latex used to make tyres. The scheme for producers in Hainan and Yunnan provinces, the main rubber producing regions, will stabilise producers’ income and increase planting acreage to boost the country’s rubber production, according to a joint statement by the finance ministry, agriculture ministry and the National Administration of Financial Regulation dated Dec 8. China is the world’s largest natural rubber consumer and a significant importer. Its domestic supplies so far only fulfil a fraction of its needs. The country is expected to produce 836,000 metric tons in 2023 and up to 910,000 by 2030, Jom Jacob, co-founder of India-based analysis firm What Next Rubber, said. “Trees attaining tappable maturity until 2030 are already planted. It means, production capacity cannot be increased for the period up to 2030 as newly planted rubber trees have a long gestation period,” he said. The insurance covers rubber seedlings and trees against natural disasters, major diseases, pests and rodents, accidents, wildlife destruction and other risks faced by rubber seedlings or rubber trees, the government said.

* The Malaysian Rubber Board (MRB) and Singapore-based technology company Agridence Rubber Pte Ltd have tied up in a technical collaboration to set up a digital trading platform for sustainable natural rubber.

* The Rubber Board under the Union ministry of commerce and industry has set an ambitious target of setting up rubber plantations on 10,000 hectares of land across north Bengal in next two years to augment rubber production in the country. Senior board officials said they would spend around Rs 50 crore in the two years to develop plantations on the 10,000 hectares.

JAPAN OSAKA RUBBER JUN24 FUT

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