This entry was posted on Thursday, September 10th, 2009 at 8:14 am and is filed under Rubber News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.
Sept. 9 (Bloomberg) — Rubber climbed to an 11-month high after data showed China’s passenger-car sales surged a record 90 percent last month, boosting speculation demand will increase in the world’s largest consumer of the commodity used in tires.
Futures in Tokyo gained as much as 3.5 percent to the highest level since Oct. 8. Sales of cars, sport-utility vehicles and multipurpose vehicles rose to 858,300, the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers said yesterday. This year, a 4 trillion yuan ($586 billion) stimulus plan has shielded China from the global recession, helping car sales jump at least 45 percent for four months in a row.
“Strong car sales figures from China boosted investor interest in rubber futures,” Kazuhiko Saito, chief analyst at Tokyo-based commodity broker Fujitomi Co., said today by phone.
February-delivery rubber advanced 3.4 percent to settle at 217 yen a kilogram ($2,345 a metric ton) on the Tokyo Commodity Exchange.
Overall vehicle sales in China, including trucks and buses, expanded 82 percent to 1.14 million in August, according to the association. Commercial-vehicle sales climbed 60 percent to 280,200 units. Sales have surged as tax cuts and government subsidies spurred demand.
“Sales growth is sure to continue in the coming months due to the incentives,” said Zhang Xin, an analyst at Guotai Junan Securities Co. in Beijing. Still, “everybody is worried about next year” and whether the government will introduce further stimulus measures, he said.
Rubber futures also increased as a surge in crude oil boosted the cost of making rival synthetic products, Saito said.
Crude oil for October delivery gained 0.2 percent to $71.22 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange at 3:50 p.m. Tokyo time. Yesterday, the contract added $3.08 or 4.5 percent to $71.10, the biggest gain since Aug. 19, as a slump in the dollar spurred demand for commodities.
January-delivery rubber on the Shanghai Futures Exchange closed 1.5 percent higher at 18,595 yuan ($2,723) a ton.
Source: Bloomberg