Asian rubber: bridgestone buys rss3, china eyes warehouse goods

Singapore  (december 05, 2010) : japan's largest tyre maker, bridgestone corp, bought some rss3 rubber for forward shipment, but top consumer china was chasing cheaper thai grades from its own warehouses, dealers said on tuesday. indonesia's sir20 grade changed hands late on monday at $4.24 a kg for january shipment, and there were still inquiries for december cargo, which was offered at higher prices around $4.25 a kg.
"major tyre makers are still around, but they have moved to january and february shipment," said a dealer in singapore. "china is a bit quiet recently because prices in shanghai are cheaper," he added. rss3 was quoted at $4.32 on tuesday, down from a lifetime high at $4.40 offered last week, but dealers said thai grades already stored in warehouses in shanghai were a few cents cheaper.
bridgestone bought rss3 at $4.30 in deals done late on monday. natural rubber prices have hit an all time high above $4 a kg in southeast asia due to tight supply blamed on a combination of heavy rains and dry weather in producing countries, which helped spur rallies in tokyo and shanghai rubber futures.
"i heard china is looking to buy thai grades at $4.20, which is very cheap. that's for goods already in the warehouses, but i am not sure if anything has been traded," said a dealer in thailand's southern city of hat yai. "it's very low because the fob price in origin is already $4.30," he added. rubber inventories in warehouses monitored by the shanghai futures exchange rose 1.7 percent to 1,015 tonnes from a week earlier, the exchange said on friday.

(Source: http://www.brecorder.com/news/agriculture-and-allied/world/1130660:asian-rubber-bridgestone-buys-rss3-china-eyes-warehouse-goods.html?hl=rubber)