China is the largest buyer of Malaysian rubber

Market Review on Rubber

Rubber advanced for the first time in three days as rising crude oil prices improved the appeal of the raw material used to make tyres. Futures gained as much as 1.9 percent after falling 3.6 percent on Monday to the lowest close in five months. Rubber has tumbled 24 percent since climbing to a 21-month high of 338.5 yen April 16. Tocom rubber opened higher on bargain hunting, stayed in positive territory, but gains only gathered pace in later part of trading day with investors covering 

short positions as spot May supplies tight. 

The much awaited south-west monsoon on Monday (May 17) brought first showers to the Andaman and Nicobar islands, setting the stage for its early progression towards Kerala, According to the Director General of the India Meteorological Department India, South-west monsoon has set in over parts of south Bay of Bengal, Andaman and Nicobar Islands and most parts of Andaman Sea.

A depression in the Bay of Bengal was expected to pull the monsoonal flow towards the mainland and it may reach Kerala earlier than May 30. Malaysia’s natural rubber production increased 48.4% year-on-year in March, the Department of Statistics said on May 14. On a monthly basis, however, production decreased 13.2%. The smallholdings sector contributed 95% of the total production, while the rest came from the estate sector. In March, natural rubber exports surged 88.6% annually and a strong growth of 40.9% was recorded monthly.

China topped the list of main buyers of Malaysian rubber with a share of 34.9% in the total exported rubber. Reliance Industries Ltd proposes to set up a joint venture with Russian petrochemical firm SIBUR to make synthetic rubber in India.

In a media release issued jointly on Sunday, the companies said the proposed joint venture make butyl rubber at RIL's petrochemical facility at Jamnagar, Gujarat.

(commodityonline.com)