The monitoring shows that the natural rubber commodity index on April 17 was 37.86, the same as yesterday, down 62.14% from the highest point of 100.00 in the cycle (2011-09-01), and up 38.78% from the lowest point of 27.28 on April 2, 2020. (Note: the period refers to the period from September 1, 2011 to now)
Figure 2: mainstream price trend of natural rubber in the third week of April 2022
The monitoring showed that in the third week of April, the domestic natural rubber (standard 1) in China’s East China market decreased slightly. The mainstream market reported about 12880 yuan / ton on the 11th and 12766 yuan / ton on the 17th, with a weekly decrease of 0.89%; Among them, the highest price of the week was 12880 yuan / ton on the 11th, and the lowest price was 12766 yuan / ton on the weekend. The maximum amplitude of the week was 0.89%.
Figure 3: trend chart of mainstream international crude oil prices in the third week of March 2022
Macro analysis: on the macro level, the international oil price rose sharply overnight on the 15th, and the settlement price of the main contract of WTI crude oil futures in the United States was US $106.95/barrel, up US $2.70 or 2.6%; The settlement price of the main contract of Brent crude oil futures was US $111.70/barrel, up US $2.92 or 2.7%. As of Thursday of that week, oil prices had risen for three consecutive times, with a weekly rise of nearly 9%. Friday’s inner market was boosted. The main contract of SC crude oil rose 3.87% to close at 690.2 yuan / barrel; The main reason is that the EU may draft a bill banning the import of Russian oil, and the expectation of oil product shortage caused by the conflict between Russia and Ukraine has surfaced again, with strong support for oil prices. While it is predicted that oil prices will still have upward momentum in the future, China’s demand may continue to slow down and limit the rise of oil prices.
Figure 4: Weekly K histogram of natural rubber market since April 2022
Industry analysis: supply side: it is reported that the thunderstorm warning in Thailand’s production area will have an impact on the north and northeast. On the whole, the shipment of new rubber in Southeast Asia is good and the price is strong; Among the domestic production areas, the rubber cutting work in Yunnan has increased normally, and the cutting in Hainan production area is expected to be delayed. At present, the global output is still relatively low. Demand side: Recently, the whole country has been greatly affected by public health events, and the transportation of raw materials and finished products has been greatly affected by multi-point divergence. As an important circulation place and an international circulation place of bulk raw materials, Shanghai can hardly ship raw materials from multi District raw materials warehouses at present; The transportation in Shandong and other main production areas is still very affected. It is difficult for raw materials to come in and finished products to go out, the cost is high, the downstream demand is reduced, and the tire enterprises reduce the operating load; Secondly, the demand for tire exports has declined. The current situation in Shanghai has affected the import and export trade of finished products, which is difficult to recover in the short term. Domestic shipments are blocked, and the inventory pressure of finished tire products continues to increase. In terms of inventory: the inventory in Qingdao is in a state where the outbound volume is greater than the inbound volume. The arrival volume of natural rubber decreases, the inventory continues to decline slightly, the rhythm of accumulating inventory slows down, and the inventory elimination of rubber inventory has begun, but the process is slow. Import and export: according to the data released by the General Administration of Customs on April 13, China imported 668000 tons of natural and synthetic rubber (including latex) in March 2022, down 6% from 711000 tons in the same period in 2021. From January to March 2022, China imported 1.861 million tons of natural and synthetic rubber (including latex), an increase of 3.9% over 1.791 million tons in the same period in 2021.
Industry hot spots: 1. According to the passenger car Federation, the retail sales of passenger car market reached 1.579 million in March 2022, with a year-on-year decrease of 10.5% and a month on month increase of 25.6%. The retail trend in March was quite differentiated. From January to March, a total of 4.915 million vehicles were retailed, a year-on-year decrease of 4.5% and a year-on-year decrease of 230000 vehicles. The overall trend was lower than expected. The analysis shows that the production and sales of passenger cars in the core areas will be greatly affected in April. Due to the long automobile industry chain and high requirements for coordination, and the shutdown radiation range of core production and logistics base is wider, the production and marketing pressure of automobile market in April may be great.
2. On April 11, the China Automobile Industry Association released monthly data. The data showed that in March this year, the automobile production and sales data were 2.241 million and 2.234 million respectively, down 9.1% and 11.7% year-on-year; Growth of 23.4% and 28.4% month on month. From January to March, the production and sales of automobiles totaled 6.484 million and 6.599 million, with a year-on-year increase of 2.0% and 0.2%. It is noteworthy that the domestic automobile production and sales data of China Automobile Industry Association this month excludes the automobile export part.
3. Data show that from January to March, Vietnam exported 412000 tons of natural rubber and mixed rubber, basically the same as last year; A total of 270000 tons were exported to China, up 0.4% from 269000 tons last year.
4. The data show that in the first three months of 2022, the rubber export volume of C ô te d’Ivoire totaled 322544 tons, an increase of 4.2% compared with 309441 tons in the same period of 2021.
5. According to the data released by the General Administration of Customs on April 13, China imported 668000 tons of natural and synthetic rubber (including latex) in March 2022, down 6% from 711000 tons in the same period in 2021. From January to March 2022, China imported 1.861 million tons of natural and synthetic rubber (including latex), an increase of 3.9% over 1.791 million tons in the same period in 2021.
6. On April 13, the European tire and Rubber Manufacturers Association (etrma) released market data that showed that the market sales of replacement tires in Europe increased by 8.8% year-on-year to 69.24 million in the first quarter of 2022. According to the analysis, assuming the tight supply of raw materials and energy caused by the current situation, it may affect the sales in the next few months.
7. According to the Malaysian Bureau of statistics on April 15, the export volume of natural rubber in February 2022 decreased by 12.7% year-on-year to 47682 tons, down 6.8% month on month. Among them, 50.8% are exported to China, and the others are 5.1% in the United States, 3.5% in Germany, 3.4% in Turkey and 2.1% in Brazil.
8. On April 18, the Thai meteorological agency issued the No. 9 Thailand summer storm warning. High pressure or cold air mass has spread to the northeast of Thailand, the eastern region of the northern region and the South China Sea. Due to the unusually hot weather, there will be summer storms in this area, thunderstorms, gales and hail in some areas, as well as heavy rain and lightning.
Figure 5: annual comparison of domestic mainstream trend of natural rubber from 2019 to 2022
Future forecast: on the macro level, under the influence of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine and the reduction of China’s demand, the international crude oil will be strong, but the range will be limited. The weather in Thailand is abnormal, and the current global production is still relatively low; Public health incidents spread at many points, China’s cargo transportation and downstream demand were affected, the operating rate of tire enterprises slowed down, the stock of spot finished products continued to accumulate, and the rising power of the market continued to be suppressed. Although the synthetic rubber market has declined slightly in recent weeks, the cost pressure of alternative rubber remains high, and the future market shock of natural rubber is weak.