Rubber advanced for the first time in five days after data showed faster-than-estimated growth in China’s industrial output, boosting optimism that demand will expand from the world’s largest consumer.
Futures in Tokyo rallied as much as 0.9 percent to 295.6 yen per kilogram ($3,513 a metric ton) after declining about 3 percent in the previous four sessions. The price also climbed as a rally in crude oil raised the appeal of natural rubber as an alternative to synthetic products.
Industrial production in China gained 13.9 percent in August from a year earlier, more than the 13 percent median estimate of 29 economists surveyed by Bloomberg, the statistics bureau said on Sept. 11. The country’s retail sales gained 18.4 percent in August, compared with 17.9 percent in July.
“Market sentiment improved as the data showed China’s economic growth accelerated,” Takaki Shigemoto, an analyst at JSC Corp. in Tokyo, said today by phone.
February-delivery rubber rose as much as 2.6 yen, before settling 1.8 yen higher at 294.8 yen on the Tokyo Commodity Exchange. The most-active contract has advanced 51 percent over the past year.
Rubber also gained today as Asian stocks extended a rally after higher-than-forecast wholesale inventories in the U.S. eased concern that recovery in the world’s largest economy may be faltering, Shigemoto said.
A report by the Commerce Department showed inventories at U.S. wholesalers rose in July by the most in two years as a rebound in demand prompted companies to add to stockpiles. The 1.3 percent gain in the value of inventories was about three times the median estimate in a Bloomberg News survey.
Concerns ‘Easing’
“Concerns are easing about the future of the global economy,” said Toshiyuki Kanayama, an analyst at Monex Inc.
March-delivery rubber on the Shanghai Futures Exchange gained 1.4 percent to 25,740 yuan ($3,806) a ton at 2:38 p.m. local time. The price recovered from a two-week low reached on Sept. 10 amid speculation that Chinese regulators were investigating natural-rubber positions.
Natural-rubber inventories dropped 600 tons to 25,220 tons, the Shanghai Futures Exchange said Sept. 10, based on a survey of 10 warehouses.
In the cash market, Thai shippers offered so-called RSS-3 grade rubber for October shipment at $3.45 a kilogram today, unchanged from Sept. 10, according to Shigemoto at JSC.
“Prices are supported amid expectation that the high- production season in Thailand is coming close to an end,” Shigemoto said. Output tends to peak in September, he said.
Global natural-rubber consumption this year will exceed supply as a recovery in vehicle sales fuels demand for tires and users rebuild inventories, the International Rubber Study Group said last week.
Demand will total 13.3 million tons this year, 114,000 tons higher than a previous forecast, the Singapore-based group said in an e-mailed statement on Sept. 9. Production will increase 6.1 percent to 10.25 million tons this year and by 7.3 percent to 11 million tons in 2011, it said.
source - www.bloomberg.com
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