By Rattaphol Onsanit
March 19 (Bloomberg) -- Natural rubber futures fell for the first time in five days in Tokyo as a stronger Japanese currency boosted the cost for overseas investors of the yen-denominated contracts and Vietnam planned to expand plantations.
The commodity, traded globally in dollars, lost as much as 1.4 percent after gaining 5.6 percent in the past four days. Vietnam, the world’s fourth-largest producer, may plant trees in two neighboring countries, moving to add supply amid faltering demand from the auto industry, the biggest market for rubber.
“The main pressure comes from the yen, while the news about Vietnam is adding to the cloudy long-term outlook,” Navarat Kaewpratarn, a senior marketing official at Bangkok-based Future Agri Trade Ltd., said today.
Rubber for August delivery declined 1.4 percent to 139.1 yen a kilogram ($1,449 a metric ton) on the Tokyo Commodity Exchange at the 1:09 p.m. local time. The yen was at 95.98 per dollar compared with 96.22 yesterday.
Vietnam Rubber Group, the nation’s largest producer and exporter, plans to plant 200,000 hectares (494,000 acres) of trees in Laos and Cambodia, betting on a rebound in global demand in the next decade, according to Dinh Van Tien, director of the import-export department at a state-owned company.
July-delivery rubber on the Shanghai Futures Exchange, the most-active contract, gained 1.7 percent to 12,645 yuan ($1,851) a ton at 11:30 a.m. local time.
To contact the reporter on this story: Rattaphol Onsanit in Bangkok at ronsanit@bloomberg.net
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