Market and product

Lower rubber prices on global markets have delivered a blow to the domestic price of the commodity over the past two weeks.

The price of rubber products for delivery in November was quoted at 159.9 Japanese yen (VND29,553) per kilogram on Japan’s commodity exchange Tocom on Tuesday, the lowest in almost three weeks. The price was 167.1 yen (VND30,876) per kilogram for delivery in March 2016, down 1% from one day before and down 2% compared to last week’s trading session.

Domestic rubber prices decreased correspondingly. A kilogram of SVR3L and SVR10 rubber products in southeastern and central provinces were sold at VND26,200 and VND25,900 respectively, down VND1,100 and VND800 per kilogram against October 16.

According to the news site about rubber markets thitruongcaosu.net, local rubber exporters offered the free-on-board (FOB) price at less than VND27,300 per kilogram for SVR10, down VND250 per kilogram over October 16.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development reported that Vietnam had shipped abroad 740,000 tons of rubber worth US$1.06 billion in the first nine months of 2015, down nearly 7% in volume and 14 % in value year-on-year.

The rubber export price in the first eight months of this year averaged US$1,451 per ton, down nearly 20% over the same period last year.
China, Malaysia and India were the main export markets for Vietnamese rubber in the period. China was the largest rubber importer of Vietnam.

While exports of natural rubber dropped, imports of industrial rubber products increased. Particularly, in the first nine months of this year, Vietnam imported 283,000 tons of rubber worth US$488 million, up nearly 23% in volume and 5% in value year-on-year.

According to the Vietnam Rubber Association (VRA), enterprises have stepped up rubber imports to increase material in stock for production as the price of industrial rubber is in decline on global markets.