Producers bid on INRO rubber stock
Producers bid on INRO rubber stock
SINGAPORE (Dow Jones): Rubber producers who sold rubber to the
International Natural Rubber Organization (INRO) are now keen
bidders as the group seeks to sell off its buffer stock,
exporters and traders told Dow Jones Newswires Wednesday.
A big Indonesian rubber producer, the PT Batanghari Group,
bought one-third of the standard Indonesian rubber 20 grade that
INRO sold Tuesday, PT Batanghari Director Asril Sutan Amir said.
He declined to specify the exact tonnage bought.
Asril is also chairman of the Rubber Association of Indonesia,
or Gapkindo.
He added that PT Batanghari didn't just buy SIR20 that it had
earlier sold to INRO, but also bought those from the other SIR20
producers.
"We need it for raw material," he said, adding that he
predicts SIR20 for the January-March 2001 shipment will rise to
66.10 U.S. cents a kilogram, free-on-board basis soon because
rains in Indonesia are cutting raw material supply there.
SIR20 for the December shipment was quoted at 62.80 U.S.
cents/kg, FOB basis Tuesday.
The defunct INRO has been seeking bids everyday this week to
sell its 138,000-metric ton buffer stockpile.
Tuesday, INRO sold some tonnage of ribbed smoked sheet rubber
3 grade of Thai origin and SIR20 at 61 U.S. cents/kg for the
March 2001 shipment on an ex-warehouse basis, INRO Chief
Executive Arch Roberts said.
INRO doesn't comment on the exact tonnage sold or who its
buyers are, but various traders have estimated the group to have
sold fewer than 1,000 tons of rubber Tuesday.
Market participants are expecting results of INRO's Wednesday
request for bids later in the day.
Big rubber producers in Thailand and Malaysia are also said to
be keen on buying INRO's stock, but only those it had earlier
sold to the group, exporters and traders said.
Exporters said they are keen to buy their own rubber - "if
it's cheap enough" - as they are confident of its quality.
However, they emphasized if they bought it, they would subject
the rubber to quality checks before offering it to their
customers.
"When we buy our rubber, we will have to check the quality
first and tell buyers when we offer it to them that it was INRO
rubber," said Von Bundit Co. Ltd.'s managing director Pongsak
Kerdvongbundit.
"We're confident of our quality, but we're concerned about
(INRO's) storage conditions," he said, adding that should the
company discover its rubber's quality had deteriorated, it will
use it instead for raw material.
Pongsak declined to say how much Von Bundit bid for its
rubber, but traders said it is bidding at 54 U.S. cents/kg for
the November shipment of RSS3 Wednesday, compared with 55 U.S.
cents/kg Tuesday for the same shipment.
It is also said to be bidding 63.50 U.S. cents/kg for standard
Thai rubber 20 grade, November shipment.