SMR20 rubber at M$2.52 per kilo for October shipment

SMR20 rubber at M$2.52 per kilo for October shipment

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuter): The International Natural Rubber Organization (INRO) buffer stock manager sold SMR20 rubber warehoused in Malaysia yesterday, an INRO official said.

He said the group sold the SMR20 rubber at M$2.52 a kg, for October shipment. Traders said this morning that INRO had set a reserve price of M$2.50 a kg for the SMR20 rubber.

The official said the SMR20 rubber is from INRO warehouses in Penang and Port Klang, Malaysia.

This is the seventh trading day the Kuala Lumpur-based INRO has asked for bids from traders as it sells rubber to curb soaring prices.

INRO has been selling undisclosed amounts of SMR20 for the past week as it has run out of SIR20 rubber that is warehoused in Indonesia, INRO sources said.

It has also sold similar TSR20 rubber in London last week, accepting 59.25 pence a kg for September and October shipments on Friday -- 10 pence lower than the bids it accepted on Thursday for similar forward shipment.

In New York on Friday, INRO also sold an unspecified amount of TSR20 rubber at 46.25 U.S. cents a pound -- 3.5 cents lower than the bids INRO accepted on Thursday -- and RSS3 rubber at 59 cents a pound in New York for August and September shipments.

INRO last sold RSS3 rubber at US$1.12 a kg in Southeast Asia when it first entered the market on July 8.

INRO has sold unspecified amounts of RSS1, RSS3, SMR20 and SIR20, for August and September shipments in the Southeast Asia markets, from its warehouses in China, Malaysia and Indonesia.

Despite further sales, INRO's five-day moving average price rose to 234.11 Malaysian/Singapore cents a kg on July 15 versus July 14's 233.25 cents.

INRO's daily indicator rose further to 236.50 cents on July 15 against 235.43 cents on July 14.

INRO's buffer stock sales of SMR20 rubber for such forward positions did not have much impact on nearby SMR20 positions in Malaysia.