Asian Rubber Futures Higher After Top Producers Decide To Curb Exports
4 February 2016, 17:47 SEAST
Rubber markets across Asia rallied on news that the world’s top three rubber producers have decided to reduce the amount of natural rubber exported from March 1.
Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand–which together produce around 70% of the world’s rubber and make up the International Tripartite Rubber Council–said they would reduce natural rubber exports from the three countries by 615,000 metric tons over the six-month period starting March 1. This equates to around 17% of the three countries’ rubber exports.
However, Gu Jiong, an analyst at trading firm Yutaka Shoji in Tokyo, said “the balance of supply and demand fundamentals hasn’t changed that much” on the news and rubber was likely to continue to trade around current levels over the coming weeks.