Favourable demand-supply situation is prevailing in 2016: ANRPC
KOCHI: The Association of Natural Rubber Producing Countries (ANRPC) that accounts for 90% of global natural rubber (NR) supply and 65% of demand has stated that a favourable demand-supply situation is prevailing in 2016.

In its monthly report, ANRPC general secretary Nguyen Ngoc Bich has said NR prices gained momentum from previous month and improved further during November across all major physical markets. The uptrend could be supported by favourable supply-demand fundamentals and other economic factors.

The total NR production will touch 11.08 million tonnes in the year, up by 0.1 % over last year, the report said. Till November, the production increased 0.4% to 10.10 million tonnes. Indian production rose 7.4%, the largest by any country. Thailand and Vietnam are the other countries which showed a jump in output while China, Malaysia and Indonesia witnessed a decline in production.

The consumption is projected to rise 4.1 % to 8.02 million tonnes for 2016 over last year according to the report. The growth has been 4.3 % for 11 months to November at 7.38 million tonnes. The rise in consumption has been attributed to 3.7% and 4.6% growth in China and India respectively, two largest consumers. Malaysia, Vietnam and Philippines showed faster consumption growth.
Continued low supply from 2014 onwards has helped ease the negative sentiments arising from the excess stock accumulated till 2013, the report pointed out. The NR market also received a boost from the favourable recovery in crude oil prices, sharp depreciation of Japanese yen and improved US economic outlook, it added.

Source: ECONOMIC TIMES