Spot rubber slips on tepid demand

Spot rubber closed weak on Monday. RSS-4 dropped to ₹133 (133.50) per kg, according to traders and the Rubber Board. The grade declined to ₹129 (129.50) as reported by dealers.

Tepid demand from covering buyers and major consuming industries took the steam out of the market and it lost further amidst scattered transactions. The trend continued to remain mixed.

Consumption slides

As per reports based on the anticipated figures of production available from individual producing countries, the world production during Q3 2020 (July-September) is anticipated at 3.517 million tonnes — down 1.5 per cent from the same quarter in the previous year.

Based on preliminary estimates and forecasts of individual consuming countries, word consumption of NR is expected to be down 2.9 per cent during the third quarter. But when compared with the 15 year-on-year fall seen during Q1 2020 (January-March) and 15.8 per cent y-o- fall in Q2 2020 (April-June), this is a marked improvement according to the Association of Natural Rubber Producing Countries (ANRPC).

The September futures improved by 115 yuan (₹1,239.06) to close at 11,505 yuan (₹123,959.48) a tonne in day time trading on Shanghai Futures Exchange (ShFE).

RSS-3 (spot) slid to ₹138.59 (138.66) per kg at Bangkok. SMR-20 firmed up to ₹97.57 (97.06) and Latex 60% to ₹86.51 (85.37) at Kuala Lumpur.

Spot rubber rates (₹/kg): RSS-4:133 (133.50); RSS-5: 127.50 (128); ISNR-20: 109 (109) and Latex (60% drc): 77 (77).