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.