SINGAPORE: Japanese rubber futures rose on Tuesday, tracking gains in the Shanghai market over positive demand sentiment as strict COVID-19 curbs in top buyer China continued to be lifted.

The Osaka Exchange rubber contract for May delivery was up 2.1 yen, or 1.0%, at 219.8 yen ($1.61) per kg as of 0200 GMT. The rubber contract on the Shanghai futures exchange for January delivery was up 10 yuan, or 0.1%, at 12,890 yuan ($1,851) per tonne.

Japan’s benchmark Nikkei share average opened down 0.42%. China’s capital Beijing no longer requires people that enter supermarkets and commercial buildings to show negative Covid-19 tests on their mobile phones, the city government said on Tuesday.

Mainland China’s Health Commission reported 28,062 new coronavirus cases for Dec 5, compared with 30,014 new cases a day earlier. Oil prices edged higher on Tuesday, after a G7 price cap on Russian seaborne oil came into force on Monday on top of a European Union embargo on imports of Russian crude by sea.

The natural rubber market benefits from stronger oil prices that spur manufacturers to shift away from synthetic rubber, which is derived from oil, thus driving up prices of natural rubber.

Volkswagen and FAW’s plant in Chengdu, China has resumed production after a brief halt and two lines which were suspended at the carmaker’s Chengchun plant are also running again, a spokesperson said on Monday.

Japanese household spending rose for a fifth straight month in October from a year earlier, data showed on Tuesday. The front-month rubber contract on Singapore Exchange’s SICOM platform for January delivery last traded at 136.0 US cents per kg, down 0.1%.