SINGAPORE (Dow Jones)–The November ribbed smoked sheet rubber 3 grade futures contract on the Tokyo Commodity Exchange expired Tuesday at Y238 a kilogram, with 116 lots delivered.

The expiry price was Y8 higher than the previous settlement, but Y7 lower than the expiry price of Y245/kg for October.

The October contract expired last month with 92 lots delivered. Each lot is five metric tons.

Tocom didn”t provide any information on the buyers and sellers.

Source: Dow Jones

BANGKOK, Nov 24 (Reuters) – Tokyo rubber futures retreated from a 13-month high on Tuesday because of profit-taking and easier gold prices, but they were still supported by falling supply, dealers said.
* The benchmark rubber contract on the Tokyo Commodity Exchange <0#JRU:> for April delivery rose 4.1 percent to settle at 247.5 yen ($2.79) per kg on Tuesday.
* The contract rose as high as 250.0 yen per kg, the highest since October 2008, before profit-taking set in.
* Gold eased as investors took profits from the previous day’s record high, but sentiment was underpinned by a weak dollar. [ID:nSP489530]
* Dealers said Tokyo rubber futures were probably overbought but prices were not expected to drop sharply as falling supply in Thailand, the biggest producer, provided support.
* “I think the 240 level should be a strong support level as supply is falling further,” one Japanese dealer said. ($1=88.87 Yen)

Source: Reuters

BANGKOK, Nov 23 (Reuters) – Physical rubber prices in Thailand are expected to rise further and remain high over the next two weeks because of monsoon weather in major growing areas in the south, traders and officials said on Monday.
Smoked rubber sheet prices have more than doubled from $1.1 per kg in December 2008, the lowest in nearly seven years, to $2.60 per kg on Monday.
Torrential rain in Thailand’s southern region since early November has caused flooding in several areas, including Hat Yai in Songkhla province, which has been declared a disaster zone, said a senior official at the Agriculture Ministry.
Thailand is the world’s biggest rubber producer and Hat Yai is the country’s rubber trading centre.
“The central rubber market is still open, but rubber output coming to the market has dropped as much as 50 percent,” said a trader at Hat Yai.
Only around 15 tonnes of rubber sheet is being traded at the Hat Yai rubber centre per day, down from 30 tonnes normally, a local trader said.
Around 5.5 million rai, or around 800,000 hectares (2 million acres), of rubber land has been hit by rain and flooding, which has disrupted tapping and hampered transportation, traders said.
Other southern provinces hit by the monsoon were Phatthalung, Nakhon Si Thammarat, Narathiwat and Pattani. Those provinces account for roughly 90 percent of Thailand’s annual production of around 3 million tonnes of rubber.
“We expect rubber supply to rise gradually and get back to normal by mid-December if the rain stops within a few days,” said a provincial agricultural official, adding that farmers needed time to tap rubber latex, then dry and process it into smoked rubber sheets.
Unsmoked rubber sheet (USS3), a raw material for export-grade rubber sheet (RSS3), was at 80 baht per kg on Monday, up from last week’s 78 baht, traders said.

Source: Reuters

[Dow Jones] Physical prices of Thai USS3 rubber rise to THB78.01-THB78.31 vs THB77.58-THB77.88 yesterday due to weak arrivals, slow tapping amid heavy rains. “USS3 tapping is likely to be slow for the next few weeks,” says analyst in Singapore. Total availability in three central markets of Thailand 64.7 tons vs 49 tons yesterday; 12.5 tons in Hat Yai, 2.2 tons in Surat Thani, 50 tons in Chandee. Availability in 2H most days has been less than 100 tons, while requirement is close to double that volume. Factories ready to pay even more than THB79/kg to dealers outside central markets. (SAM)

Source: Dow Jones

SINGAPORE, Nov 20 (Reuters) – Tokyo rubber futures dipped on
Friday as speculators booked profits from a rally to a 13-month
high the previous day, but steady oil prices cushioned the fall.
* TOCOM’s rubber contract for April delivery <0#JRU:> settled
1.3 yen per kg lower at 243.4 yen, having hit 245.2 yen on
Thursday — the strongest since last October for any benchmark.
* The most active contract has gained around 4 percent this
week on firm oil prices and tight supplies in Southeast Asia
after the dry winter curbed supply in Indonesia and heavy rains
disrupted the flow of latex in Thailand and Malaysia.
* “I think we’re looking for a short-term correction. I’d
expect the market to find strong support at 240 yen, which used
to be the resistance level,” said a dealer in Thailand’s southern
city of Hat Yai.
* Oil steadied below $78 a barrel on Friday, looking
for fresh direction after a strong U.S. dollar and weak stock
markets triggered a 2 percent overnight fall. [O/R]
* Rubber inventories in warehouses monitored by the Shanghai
Futures Exchange rose 3 percent in the week ended Thursday, the
exchange said on Friday. Rubber inventories rose to 133,997
tonnes from 129,867 tonnes the week before.

Source: Reuters