Shanghai rubber futures struck an all-time high above 30,000 yuan a tonne on Wednesday on fund buying driven by a rising Chinese currency and worries about falling domestic output. The most active March contract jumped as high as 30,670 yuan a tonne in heavy volume of more than 600,000 lots. The contract has gained around 24 percent this year.
"Expectation over appreciation of the renminbi has caused capital to flow into the rubber market, and continuous rains in Hainan have also hampered tapping of rubber trees and caused tight supply," said Wu Xiao, an analyst with Doto Futures Co Ltd. "China's expansion of automobiles will support rubber demand to grow rapidly in the long-run." China, the world's largest rubber consumer, imports natural rubber from Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia because domestic output doesn't meet demand from tyre makers.