THE Malaysian rubber market is likely to trend higher next week due to signs of improvement in the Covid-19 containment in China, where the death toll and new cases have slowed down this week.
Malaysian Rubber Glove Manufacturers Association (MARGMA) president Denis Low said China would set the pace for the uptrend in terms of demand and price.
“China is already coming out of the total lockdown position and even lifted the lockdown in its epidemic centre, Wuhan, on April 8.
“Industries are beginning to operate and once the automobile industry starts up, there will be more demand for rubber,” he told Bernama.
Low said demand was expected to increase due to a prolonged wintering season in Thailand which affected the latex yield and caused a supply shortage.
He added that the firmer closing price of 481.0 sen on Thursday would set the tone for higher prices next week.
For the week just ended, the rubber market saw mixed trading driven by the performance of regional rubber futures markets. Traders had been cautious ahead of Thursday’s Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries meeting as well as G20 meeting to ease the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on global energy markets.
On a Friday-to-Thursday basis, the Malaysian Rubber Board’s reference physical price for SMR 20 jumped 21.5 sen to 481.0 sen a kg, while latex-in-bulk perked nine sen to 414.0 sen a kg. – April 11, 2020, Bernama
