RUBBER MART REBOUNDS ON EXPECTATIONS OF LOWER NR PRODUCTION, WEAKER RINGGIT

By Niam Seet Wei

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 24 -- The Malaysian rubber market rebounded from yesterday's losses to close firmer today after the International Tripartite Rubber Council (ITRC) forecast a decrease in natural rubber production for the rest of this year and into early 2021.

A dealer said today's rebound was also buoyed by a weaker ringgit versus the US dollar, which made local rubber prices more attractive to international traders.

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"Nevertheless, further gains were offset by declining benchmark crude oil prices.

"Apart from that, market operators were also concerned about world economic slowdown resulting from a resurgence of COVID-19 cases globally that caused new travel restrictions, especially in Europe," he said.

At 5 pm, the ringgit weakened to 4.1650 versus the greenback from Wednesday's close of 4.1520/1570, while benchmark Brent crude price slid 0.77 per cent to US$41.45 per barrel.

In a statement earlier today, ITRC member countries, namely Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia, attributed the expected fall in production mainly to erratic weather, decline in tapping activities due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the pestalotiopsis leaf fall disease.

ITRC also projected natural rubber supply would be further constrained by the shortage of tappers in Thailand and Malaysia, while the cold season in South Sumatera would also contribute to the output decline.

The Malaysian Rubber Board’s (MRB) reference physical price for tyre-grade SMR 20 rose 8.0 sen to 555.5 sen a kilogramme (kg) while latex-in-bulk increased 4.0 sen to 489.5 sen a kg.

At 5 pm, the MRB’s reference physical price for SMR 20 climbed 11.5 sen to 562.5 sen a kg while latex-in-bulk was at 5.0 sen higher at 492.5 sen a kg.

-- BERNAMA