Asian rubber prices were steady on Friday but supported by expectations producers will not drop their offer levels since raw material costs are near selling prices.
Supplies coming to market will tighten next week as persistent rain in Thailand and one-week Muslim festival holiday in Indonesia and Malaysia, providing price support.
"Producers are not going to drop their prices. They're getting no material next week and their factories shut down. Physical prices are not moving anywhere next week," said a Singapore dealer.
Major tyre makers have been covering their needs for nearby shipments recently and China has been seen bargain-hunting.
Top Japanese tyre maker Bridgestone Corp bought Thai RSS3 rubber sheet for January shipment overnight at $1.65 a kg. On Friday, offers for RSS3 were virtually unchanged on the day, while buyers were bidding at $1.64 a kg.
Offers for tyre-grade Standard Thai Rubber, or STR20 block, for December and January shipment were flat at $1.67 a kg.
Supplies in Thailand, the world's top producer and exporter of rubber, have shrunk because of the rainy season in the key growing south area that began this month and is likely to last until the end of November.
The heavy rains hamper cultivation.
"It's raining, and that's why we think prices should not go down," said a Thai trader.
Raw material prices for export-grade rubber in Thailand benchmark unsmoked rubber sheet grade 3, was flat at 64 baht a kg.
The most active March 2006 rubber contract on the Tokyo Commodity Exchange fell 0.5 yen per kg to 188.1 yen.
March had dropped around three percent since on Monday. Other contracts shed between 0.4 and 1.9 yen on Friday. "TOCOM is not following fundamentals, which is very dangerous because at some point it should kick back into fundamentals," said a Singapore dealer.
"And the fundamentals are saying it shouldn't go down that quickly."
In Indonesia, the price of tyre-grade SIR20 for January was quoted at $1.59 a kg, free-on-board basis, compared with $1.61 a kg on Thursday. Raw material in the key growing area in Sumatra island was quoted flat at 15,500 rupiah ($1.55) a kg.
Malaysia's tyre-grade SMR20, was offered at $1.605 a kg, for January contract.
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