Rubber loses on dull China outlook

Rubber had the first quarterly loss since June as swelling stockpiles and slowing production in China signalled weakened dem-and from the world's largest user. 

The contract for delivery in September fell 0.3% to 274 yen a kilogramme ($2,913 a metric tonne) on the Tokyo Commodity Exchange, the lowest settlement for a most-active contract since March 19. Futures slumped 9.4% in the last three months after two quarters of gains. China tightened curbs on the property market this month to moderate prices while the nation's manufacturing expanded at the slowest pace in five months in February and retail-sales growth eased. 

Natural-rubber inventories climbed 1.9% last week to 115,991 tonne, the highest level in three years, data from the Shanghai Futures Exchange showed March 22. The bourse will update the data later on Sunday. 

"Stockpiles in China may expand further as demand failed to pick up," said Takaki Shigemoto, an analyst at research company JSC Corp in Tokyo. 

China's demand for the commodity may be unchanged this year as consumption by the heavy-truck sector slows while tire output for passenger vehicles climbs.