Spot rubber closed unchanged with upward bias on Tuesday. RSS4 was quoted steady at ₹167.00 per kg by traders. The grade improved to ₹166.50 (₹166.00) per kg according to the Rubber Board. There were no quantity sellers even at higher levels and the overall volume continued to remain low following a sharp decline in raw material inflow.
"There is an unexpected drop in arrivals but we do not have the required data to explore if there is also a consecutive fall in production during the ongoing peak tapping season. Still, I feel that the weather is not so favourable for latex harvesting" an observer told BusinessLine.
In futures, the most active January contracts were down 1.28 per cent from previous day's settlement to close at ₹166.55 per kg with 29 lots on the Multi Commodity Exchange (MCX).
RSS3 (spot) firmed up to ₹142.91 (₹142.23) per kg at Bangkok. SMR20 improved to ₹130.67 (₹130.14) and Latex to ₹97.31 (₹95.16) per kg at Kuala Lumpur.
The natural rubber contract for the January 2022 delivery was down 0.87 per cent from the previous day's price to close at 14.41 Yuan (₹168.86) per kg with a volume of 1,562 lots in daytime trading on Shanghai Futures Exchange (ShFE).
The most active May 2022 delivery was up 0.21 per cent to close at 236.0 Yen (₹151.75) per kg with a volume of 137 lots on the Osaka Exchange (OSE), Japan.
Spot rubber rates (Rs/kg) were: RSS4:167.00 (167.00), RSS5: 163.00(163.00), ISNR20: 150.00 (150.00) and Latex (60% DRC - dry rubber content): 127.00 (126.00).