M'sian rubber market seen to be steady this week

KUALA LUMPUR: Trading on the Malaysian rubber market is expected to be steady this week, amid a weak stock situation in the key producer countries of Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia, a dealer said.

Prices are rising because of a demand-supply gap. The incessant rains in some parts of Malaysia has hit supply and this is expected to last until January, the dealer added.

The south of Malaysia have been badly affected by flooding caused by rains throughout the months of October and November, and has somewhat disrupted tapping and lowered production.

The SMR 20 breached its highest level of 1,351.0 sen per kg on Nov 11.

On a weekly basis, the Malaysian Rubber Board's official physical price for tyre-grade SMR 20 on Friday ended 10 sen lower at 1,319.5 sen per kg compared to previous Friday's closing of 1,329.5 sen, while latex-in-bulk rose 7.5 sen to 882.0 sen per kg.

The unoffical sellers' closing price for tyre-grade SMR 20 dropped 24.5 sen per kg to 1,313.0 sen per kg while latex in bulk went up 2.0 sen to 880.0 sen per kg. Bernama.

(Source: http://biz.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2010/11/29/business/7515629&sec=business)