According to Association of Tyre Manufacturers of India (ATMA), tyre production for all categories of vehicles recorded a growth of 10% at 626.93 lakh tyres in 2011-12 compared to previous year.
At Tokyo Commodity Exchange (TOCOM), rubber futures have rebounded 3 percent on Thursday after hitting a two-and-half year low on Wednesday, as talk of a rescue of Spain’s troubled banks and hopes for more U.S. monetary stimulus prompted a wave of bargain-hunting, Reuters reported.
Investors look for more clues on what the U.S. central bank is prepared to do for the world’s biggest economy as Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke is scheduled to speak later in the day before a congressional committee. The most-active Tokyo Commodity Exchange rubber contract for November delivery was up 6 yen, or 2.5 percent, at 247 yen per kg by 0100 GMT, Reuters added.
Since January, Thailand had annoucned a drive to procure more rubber to shore up prices in the domestic market but so far could only buy a fraction of the targetted quantity thereby not able to impact global prices, analysts said.
Recently India’s Rubber Board forecasted India rubber consumption to touch 10.06 lakh tonnes (more than a million) during 2012-13 while production is projected to touch 9.42 lakh tonnes. Despite a deficit, she said there would not be any shortage of natural rubber in the market as the projected opening stock in April, 2012, is 2.3 lakh tonnes. Besides, the rubber consuming industry can import around 1.2 lakh tonnes of rubber through duty free channels.
On Wednesday, spot rubber prices in Kottayam and Kochi markets in the South Indian state of Kerala declined to Rs 19150 per 100 kg as against Rs 19200 prevailing the day before. Spot prices have fallen close to 2% so far in June based on Rubber Board data. |