Rubber Swings as Optimism on China Demand Weighs Against Supply

Rubber swung between gains and losses as optimism over improving demand from China, the largest user, weighed against increasing supply from producer countries.

The contract for delivery in March on the Tokyo Commodity Exchange traded at 256 yen a kilogram ($2,624 a metric ton) at 12:05 p.m. after climbing 1.6 percent and dropping 0.6 percent.

China’s economy may grow about 7.5 percent as long as macroeconomic policies remain stable, the People’s Daily reported today, citing Pan Jiancheng, a deputy director of the China Economic Monitoring and Analysis Center of the National Bureau of Statistics. Global output will expand 4.5 percent next year from an estimated 11.7 million tons in 2013 as plantings between 2006 and 2008 become ready for tapping, according to Lekshmi Nair, a senior economist at the International Rubber Study Group.

“Prospects for stronger Chinese demand provided support to the rubber market, while global supplies are still increasing,” said Ryuta Imazeki, an analyst at Tokyo-based Okachi & Co.

China’s rubber industry urged the National Development and Reform Commission to scrap a 20 percent tax on natural rubber imports, the National Business Daily reported today.

Rubber for January delivery on the Shanghai Futures Exchange lost 0.6 percent to 19,295 yuan($3,172) a ton. Thai rubber free-on-board was unchanged at 79.15 baht ($2.55) a kilogram on Oct. 25, according to the Rubber Research Institute of Thailand.