KUALA LUMPUR: The Malaysian rubber market is expected to continue range-bound trading next week due to the rainy weather in producing countries and the prevailing economic uncertainties, said Denis Low, the past president of the Malaysian Rubber Glove Manufacturers Association.
He said the global outlook is still sluggish and a more measured approach is needed to trade the commodity.
“There will be sporadic demand based on the replenishment tendencies rather than an increased in volume of usage,” he told Bernama.
Quoting the customs data on Tuesday, Low said China’s exports shrank 6.4 per cent in October from a year earlier, while imports grew by three per cent last month.
“This indicated that the global demand remained soft and economic momentum was slow although domestic demand in China had improved.
“Soft global demand may impact on rubber consumption, thus export (China) data may affect market confidence and traders may be more vigilant and exercise caution when replenishing inventories,” he added.
Week-on-week, the Malaysian Rubber Board’s (MRB) reference price for Standard Malaysian Rubber 20 (SMR 20) eased 2.5 sen to 690.0 sen per kilogramme (kg) from 692.5 sen per kg previously while latex-in-bulk fell 13 sen to 549.5 sen per kg from 562.5 sen per kg.
At 5 pm on Friday, the MRB reference price for physical rubber SMR 20 stood at 693.5 sen per kg, while latex-in-bulk was at 549.5 sen per kg.–Bernama
