Increasing tension in the trade war, NR prices fall

Rubber prices on the Shanghai and Tokyo compact exchanges weakened in trading today, Tuesday (05/13/2019).

Based on Bloomberg data, rubber prices for the most active contract in October 2019 at the Tokyo Commodity Exchange (Tocom) closed down 0.75 percent or 1.4 points to 185.90 yen per kilogram (kg).

In fact, rubber prices had opened in the green zone with a strengthening of 0.43 percent or 0.8 points to 188.10 yen per kg. As for trading on Monday (13/5), the price of rubber ended at 186.30 yen per kg after rising 0.32 percent.

Meanwhile, rubber prices at the Shanghai Futures Exchange for the most active contract in September 2019 were also closed, turning down 0.72 percent or 85 points to 11,725 ​​yuan per ton, although it had opened higher to 11,910 yuan per ton.

In Monday’s trade, Shanghai rubber prices closed down 5 points or 0.04 percent to 11,810 yuan per ton.

Reported by Bloomberg, rubber prices weakened following fears that the continued increase in the tension of trade wars between the United States and China will have an impact on global growth and commodity demand.

The Office of the US Trade Representative on Monday released a list of Chinese goods worth around US $ 300 billion, including some rubber goods, children’s clothing, toys, cellphones and laptops which are planned to be subject to 25 percent import tariffs.

“Increasing tension in the trade war has raised concerns about global growth and commodity demand, thereby increasing risk aversion by investors,” Naohiro Niimura, a partner at Market Risk Advisory, was quoted as saying by Bloomberg.