Thai rubber futures fell in thin trade on Monday and prices are expected to dip further in the coming days following a fall on the physical market, brokers said. Overall volume dropped as 32 contracts for benchmark ribbed smoked sheet number three (RSS3) traded compared to 192 last Tuesday. The Agricultural Futures Exchange of Thailand was closed from Wednesday through Friday for the Songkran holiday which marks the Thai new year.
Trade was very quiet on Monday with only 2 contracts were traded in the morning session, brokers said.
The August contract ended 0.2 baht lower at 50.3 baht per kg with the number of contracts traded falling to 9 from 71.
Brokers said they expected prices to slide further over the next few days as the supply of raw materials improves due to favourable weather.
"The wintering dry season is ending. Supply is expected to eventually get back to normal by early May," said one broker from the Agro Enterprise brokerage firm.
Output drops up to 40 percent during the dry season, which usually lasts from March to early May in Thailand, the world's biggest producer and exporter of natural rubber.
The price of benchmark unsmoked sheet number three (USS3), the raw material for export-grade rubber sheet, was down 0.38 baht at 47.20 baht per kg.
On Thailand's Hat Yai physical market, RSS3 dropped 0.50 baht to 48.74 baht per kg on Monday from the previous day.