China buys 50,000 tonnes of rubber to boost reserves

China has bought an additional 50,000 tonnes of rubber from the domestic market to boost reserves, industry sources said, bringing the total amount of state purchases to about 105,000 tonnes this year. The purchases late last month included rubber from the country's main growing provinces but details only emerged this week.
China, the world's largest rubber consumer, had initially planned to buy 65,000 tonnes of rubber to stabilise rubber prices and help farmers. China imports about half of what it consumes and expects demand for rubber to rise 8.5 percent to 6.4 million tonnes in 2010 because of strong growth in the country's auto sector, according to the China Rubber Industry Association.