Campaign on scientific rubber tapping

KOTTAYAM, MAY 24:

Over 1.5 lakh rubber growers and tappers would participate in 4,000 intensive mass contact programmes to be held in Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka from June 6 to July 22.

The aim of the programme, organised by Rubber Board, is to create awareness among the growers about the significance of scientific practices in all spheres of rubber plantation industry, an official statement said today.

The programmes would be held with the involvement of Rubber Producer’s Societies, Self Help Groups, non-governmental organisations and other voluntary organisations.

When the growers were getting fairly good price for natural rubber following increasing demand in the market, the board is aiming to enhance productivity in the small holdings to the maximum.

The productivity of holdings mainly depends on tapping methods and high productivity has been noticed in holdings where scientific tapping methods are adopted.

In addition to the main theme of rubber tapping, topics like importance of replanting, climate change, quality planting materials, significance of scientific planting and maintenance of rubber plantations, rainguarding, use of Jebong knife, spraying of oil based fungicides using micron sprayers, scarcity of skilled tappers and strengthening of RPSs will also be discussed in the meetings.

Source: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/industry-and-economy/agri-biz/article2044704.ece

Philippines: P10-M rubber nursery in Cotabato

GENERAL SANTOS CITY, Philippines (PNA) – The Department of Agriculture (DA) has allocated some P10 million  for the establishment of a rubber  nursery in Lake Sebu, South Cotabato within this year.

Rep. Daisy Avance-Fuentes (2nd  District, South Cotabato) said the  planned establishment of the rub- ber nursery in Barangay Ned, Lake Sebu, is part of their ongoing efforts to  further develop the emerging rubber  industry in the province.

She said the rubber nursery was  projected to cater to some 10,000  hectares of hilly and idle lands that  were earlier identified as suitable for  the plantation crop.

“It was designed to further open  more job opportunities for local plan- tation workers, tappers, and proces- sors in the municipalities of Suralah  and T'boli,” she said.

Fuentes said DA specifically recommended Lake Sebu as the site for  the rubber nursery because of the  areas’ suitability for the opening of new rubber plantations.

Presently, most of the rubber plan- tation areas in Mindanao are located  in the provinces of Sultan Kudarat, Maguindanao, and North Cotabato.

DA is targeting to produce some 31.8 million tons of rubber products by the year 2020 as part of its ongoing rubber development program.

Source: http://www.mb.com.ph/articles/319684/p10m-rubber-nursery-cotabato

Vietnam Natural Rubber (SVR) F.O.B price May 24, 2011

Source: http://vnb-blog.blogspot.com/2011/05/vietnam-natural-rubber-price-24052011.html

IRCo - Market Watch 16 – 20 May 2011: The Movements of Global Stocks, Finance and Energy

The power sector weighed down Japanese stocks while Chinese stocks and other stocks in Asia also closed lower on Friday except for Indian stocks as investors were cautious about overnight falls in commodities and ahead of the weekend. Japan’s Nikkei Stock Average fell 0.1% to 9,607.08. Shanghai Composite Index ended at 2,858.46. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.5% and Taiwan's Taiex gave up 0.6%. Elsewhere in the region, New Zealand's NZX 50 gained 0.2% and Philippine shares finished 0.3% lower. Singapore's Straits Times index fell 0.02%, Indonesia's share market added 0.34% and Thailand's SET dropped 0.57%.

European stocks fell on Friday and posted a loss for the week after Fitch Ratings downgraded Greece's credit rating that rekindled euro-zone debt worries. The Stoxx Europe 600 index slipped 0.1% to end at 279.65. For the week, it dropped 0.3%. The U.K.’s FTSE 100 index slipped 0.1% to 5,948.49. The French CAC 40 index sank 0.9% to end at 3,990.85. In Germany, the DAX 30 index dropped 1.2% to end at 7,266.82.

Concern about the Greek debt crisis still weighed on Wall Street and pulled down major stock indexes on Friday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 93.28 points, or 0.74%, to 12,512.04. The financial and industrial sectors dragged down the Standard & Poor's 500-stock index 10.33 points, or 0.77%, to 1,333.27. The technology-oriented Nasdaq Composite declined 19.99 points, or 0.71%, to 2,803.32, snapping a three-day winning streak.

European debt fears, particularly a lingering Greek debt crisis, still weighed down the euro on Friday. Late Friday, the euro was at US$1.4162 from US$1.4312 late Thursday, according to EBS via CQG. The dollar was at Y81.69 from Y81.59, while the euro was at Y115.65 from Y116.83. The U.K. pound was at US$1.6242 from US$1.6235. The dollar was at CHF0.8775 from CHF0.8807, while the euro fell to 1.2424, not far from a record low at 1.2398.

Oil futures ended higher in volatile trading on Friday, as buyers re-entered the market ahead of contract expiration because traders were convinced by anticipation of a rise in long-term crude demand. Light, sweet crude for June delivery settled up US$1.05, or 1.1%, to US$99.49 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. With the contract expiring Friday, the more actively traded--and more expensive--July contract settled up US$1.17, or 1.2%, to US$100.10 a barrel. Brent crude on the ICE futures exchange settled up 97 cents, or 0.9%, to US$112.39 a barrel, according to Dow Jones Newswires.

Rubber Market

The table below shows that rubber futures in the region finished the week higher on Friday than an earlier Friday even though market players were mostly on the sidelines due to concern about tighter Chinese monetary policy to curb inflation in the country, but persistent tightness of NR supplies in producing countries still held cash prices to stay firmly and influenced rubber futures to some degree. Meanwhile, the Japanese yen against the greenback and crude oil futures on New York Mercantile Exchange stood more or less unchanged throughout the week.

IRCo’s MACD and its Signal Line improved slightly in negative territory while IRCo’s RSI also rose to 35.12% on Friday. The RSI has headed north for almost two weeks. It means that investors are turning to long positions.

On the physical front, persistent adverse weather still disrupts rubber tapping in major producing countries. Bullish sentiment on corn and wheat prices caused by persistent rains in the U.S. is fueling worry about grain shortage this year that is attracting speculative investors, including hedge funds, to unwind their short positions on commodity exchanges after the recent selloff in global commodities. If so, we will see some support from soft commodities to rubber futures in the near future.

Source: http://www.irco.biz/BlogMoreDetial.php?id=228&ShowContent=market_watch

Rubber Production To Grow, Michelin Says

Michelin & Cie., the world’s second-largest tiremaker, said it expects global rubber production to grow 40% in the next decade, averting a market shortage and a price surge, Bloomberg News reported.
Three-quarters of the expected output gain will come from productivity improvements by Asian producers, Managing Partner Jean-Dominique Senard told shareholders May 13 at the annual meeting near Michelin headquarters in Clermont-Ferrand, France, Bloomberg said.
Michelin said it still expects price increases to cover rising material costs, even after last month it raised its predicted negative effects on full-year profit to 1.8 billion euros ($2.6 billion) from the 1.5 billion euros predicted in February, Bloomberg said.
Michelin ranks behind Japan’s Bridgestone Corp. in global tire production.
The French tire maker is aiming to add the equivalent of a new plant globally each year to harness tire demand growth averaging 9% in emerging markets, Bloomberg said.
(Transport Topic, May 23, 2011)

Sumitomo Secures Natural Rubber Supply

Sumitomo Rubber Industries Ltd. will establish two joint venture companies with Thai Eastern Group Co. LTD. in Thailand. One will run a natural rubber plantation, the other a natural rubber processing plant.
The company says the joint ventures serve two main purposes:
1. to stabilize the quality and procurement of natural rubber for promotion of technology development of eco-tires.
2. to alleviate possible risk due to fluctuation in the price of natural rubber.
"Through establishment of these joint venture companies, Sumitomo Rubber will speed up its R&D activities to enhance the performance of fossil resource-free tires and high fuel-efficient tires to protect world environment," says the company.
The natural rubber plantation joint venture, Sumirubber Thai Eastern Plantation, will begin operations in 2014. Sumitomo Rubber will own 49% of the $13.5 million joint venture, which will employ approximately 10 people.
The natural rubber processing plant, Sumirubber Thai Eastern Corp., will start this year 2011. Sumitomo owns 70% of the $6.7 million joint venture, which will employ approximately 140 people.
(Modern Tire Dealer, May 23, 2011)

BASF increasing latex product prices

Charlotte, NC - Effective May 23, or as contracts allow, BASF will increase its prices for Acronal and Acronal Optive all-acrylic latex products, Acronal styrene-acrylic latex products, and Basonal multi-monomer latex products by $US 0.06 per wet pound in the U.S. and Canada. This action is necessary as a result of rising energy costs and significant increases in costs for raw materials such as butyl acrylate (BA), 2-ethylhexyl acrylate (2-EHA), methyl methacrylate (MMA), and styrene. Effective May 23, or as contracts allow, BASF will increase its prices on all Styrofan and Styronal styrene-butadiene latex products by $US 0.10 per wet pound in the U.S.s and Canada. This action is necessary as a result of rising energy costs significant increases in costs for raw materials such as butadiene and styrene.

Source: http://www.rubberworld.com/news.asp#16567