Asian physical rubber prices

Asian physical rubber prices were mixed on Thursday after futures contracts on the Tokyo Commodity Exchange rebounded from a steep fall. Some users stepped in to buy Thai and Indonesian rubber, concerned that prices would rise after TOCOM rebounded from a fall to a 5-week low on Wednesday.
Physical trade was not very busy, although Chinese users bought some Thai STR20 at around $2.16-2.17 per kg for prompt shipment. "It seems like a buyer's market," a Singaporean dealer said. "Producers wanted to release their stocks, especially when TOCOM rebounded." But buyers were sitting on stocks built up during the dry season in Thailand and Malaysia, when latex output falls, and were willing to wait until May, when tapping would be back to normal, to see where prices were going, traders said.