SINGAPORE: Japanese rubber futures slipped on Friday to their sharpest weekly fall since mid-March, as they tracked weaker physical prices, while retaliation fears from top consumer China to the EU’s tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles also weighed.

The November Osaka Exchange (OSE) rubber contract closed down 4.7 yen, or 1.3%, at 338.3 yen ($2.14) per kg.

The contract shed 5.3% this week to snap a five-week winning streak. The September rubber contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange (SHFE) fell 315 yuan to finish at 15,235 yuan ($2,099.82) per metric ton. Big movements on the futures market this week had led to international tyre manufacturers largely opting to “wait by the sidelines to avoid being caught in the volatility”, said Farah Miller, CEO of Helixtap Technologies, an independent rubber-focused data company. “On OSE, it reflected that the high Thai raw material market probably lost a bit of steam with some profit-taking around the technical resistance levels.”

Top producer Thailand’s benchmark export-grade smoked rubber sheet (RSS3) was 1.7% lower on a free-on-board basis on Friday, and down 3.7% week-on-week.

Oil prices eased as markets evaluated the impact of US interest rates staying higher for longer than anticipated. Natural rubber often takes direction from oil prices as it competes for market share with synthetic rubber, which is made from crude oil.

Beijing on Thursday slammed EU tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles as protectionist behaviour. Shares in some of Europe’s biggest carmakers fell for a second day on Thursday due to fears of Chinese retaliation.