Natural rubber prices decline on rising imports, domestic arrivals

After surging to a record high of ₹255 for RSS-4 in the previous weeks, natural rubber prices moved south to reach ₹235. Latex prices also come down to ₹210 from ₹250.

Rubber dealers cited increased domestic arrivals coupled with the large quantity of imports as the reason for the prices to drop.

George Valy, president of Indian Rubber Dealers Federation, said the continuing rains in plantations have not hindered tapping, thanks to the completion of rain-guarding in a majority of trees. This has ensured more arrivals to the domestic market coupled with the release of available stocks in the North-East. Higher arrivals of natural rubber in the domestic market are likely to affect prices further, he said.

More imports on cards?

Quoting Rubber Board figures, he said natural rubber imports in July alone were 60,000 tonnes, besides an additional 20,000 tonnes of rubber compound was imported from ASEAN countries. Thus, the imported quantity available in the market was 80,000 tonnes, he said, adding that the market is expecting another 1 lakh tonnes of imports each in August and September to meet the demand of the consuming industries.

He said the price difference between highly imported block rubber and domestic material, which has limited availability, facilitated the consuming industry to go for more imports.  

Tyre companies have limited their procurement from the domestic market due to increased imports. The aggressive tapping in the untapped areas in the recent period because of price rise is expected to mop up domestic production which would improve the stock availability in the market, he said. 

‘Unusually high’

According to PC Cyriac, former Rubber Board chairman, the South-West monsoon usually ends in the rubber belt of Kerala by mid-August and the next five months is the peak production season for small rubber growers. As the supply would be more than the demand, the consuming industry would try to lower their procurement.

But this year, the Bangkok market price of sheet rubber remains unusually high. China is on a buying spree. And the shipping bottleneck continues unabated. So, the domestic price is likely to be firm in the next couple of months, he said.

The growers in Kerala carried out rain-guarding to tap earnestly to reap some profits after the last 10 years of suffering losses, he said.