Sri Lanka’s rubber sees less demand in October

Sri Lanka’s rubber market continued to remain low in October due to less demand which was also evident in the regional commodity markets, the Forbes & Walker market report for October stated.

In terms of local demand, both end product manufacturers and rubber exporters indicated a lesser interest at the Colombo auctions, in spite of the expectation of a lower crop due to the continuous rains experienced throughout the rubber growing areas.

Prices of crepe rubber eased off sharply throughout the month. L.CR 1X’s and 1’s came down from Rs.750/- to Rs. 600/- whilst No. 2s declined and settled at around Rs. 515/- by end September. Price of

No.3s eased off from Rs. 620/- to Rs. 480/- per kilo. However, demand for No. 4s picked up slightly during the latter part of October, settling at around Rs. 475/- per kilo.

Somewhat steady demand prevailed for Scrap Crepes. Price of 1X browns dropped slightly and settled at around Rs. 418/- whilst, popular grade 3x browns traded firmly at around Rs. 405/- per kilo.

Interest for RSS remained mostly flat, which gradually gained ground towards the latter part of October.

RSS 1s & 2s Traded between Rs.510/- to Rs.515/-, whilst rest of the grades traded between Rs.465/- to Rs. 500/-. (SD)