SHANGHAI: Japanese rubber futures edged higher on Friday and logged their biggest weekly gain in five months, as rising tyre and synthetic rubber output from top rubber consumer China pointed to firm demand, while elevated oil prices lent further support.
The Osaka Exchange (OSE) rubber contract for January delivery nudged up 0.6 yen, or 0.14percent, to 439 yen (USD2.76) per kg. The contract gained 4.4percent this week, its biggest rise since the week ended April 3, after last week’s decline.
The rubber contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange (SHFE) for January delivery rose 150 yuan, or 0.82percent, to 18,500 yuan (USD2,752.69) per metric ton.
The most-active October butadiene rubber contract on the SHFE gained 100 yuan, or 0.69percent, to 14,625 yuan per ton. China’s rubber tyre output rose 8.1percent year-on-year to 102.66 million units in July, latest data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed, pointing to firmer downstream demand.
China’s synthetic rubber output rose 7.6percent to 792,000 tons in July, with cumulative output for the January-July period up 6.5percent at 5.43 million tons.
Oil prices fell slightly on Friday, but were on track for a second weekly rise as the stalemated US-Iran war continues to disrupt supply from the key Middle East producing region. Natural rubber often takes direction from oil prices as it competes for market share with synthetic rubber, which is made from crude oil.
The front-month rubber contract on Singapore Exchange’s SICOM platform for November delivery last traded at 229.3 US cents per kg, up 0.7percent as of 0700 GMT.
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