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Malaysia rubber closes lower, INRO to seek bids

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian rubber prices extended their fall on Wednesday, pressured by weak demand and further losses in Tokyo rubber futures.

News that the International Natural Rubber Organisation (INRO) is seeking bids on Thursday to buy its stockpiled rubber also unnerved the market, traders said.

"Prices are still coming down but failed to attract buyers. The market had gone up too fast and we are now seeing a correction," said a trader.

The Malaysian Rubber Board quoted new spot month, April, buyers at 281 Malaysian cents (74 US cents) a kg, down 2.5 cents from on Tuesday.

Tyre-grade also closed 2.5 cents lower at 273 cents (72 US cents) a kg.

INRO is offering for sale RSS3 of Thai origin and TSR10 and TSR20 of Malaysian origin for May delivery.

Undergoing liquidation, last week opened its warehouse in Port Klang for inspection by potential buyers. It plans to open up its warehouses in Bangkok and Medan later this month.

Which has a 140,000-tonne stockpile, aims to sell 34,000 tonnes per quarter from January 2000 if market conditions allow. Sales must be completed by June 30, 2001.

But some traders doubted that would sell any rubber on Thursday given current market conditions.

"Producers may bid for their own rubber at the price they had sold to which were much lower then compared to current levels. I don't think will accept such bids," another trader said.

INRO's governing council decided at a special session in Kuala Lumpur in on December that the buffer stock manager should reject any bid that was below prevailing market conditions or failed to cover INRO's purchasing and carrying costs.-Reuters