KUALA LUMPUR—Prices for natural rubber showed signs of recovery across physical markets during December 2020, the Association of Natural Rubber Producing Countries said.
Average prices for SMR-20 closed at $1.57 per kg in December 2020, up from $1.56 per kg in November, according to ANRPC's Natural Rubber Trends & Statistics December 2020.
For STR-20, the average monthly price in December 2020 recovered from $1.58 per kg in November 2020 to $1.60 per kg.
Both average prices of rubber sheets—namely RSS-3 in Bangkok and RSS-4 in Kottayam—have posted 1.2 percent growth and 2.5 percent growth in December 2020 compared to November 2020, respectively.
The end-of-year strengthening in prices came despite continuing uncertainty due to the unprecedented events of 2020, noted the association's latest monthly report, issued Jan. 11.
Markets for the commodity were also supported by a weaker U.S. dollar and an uptrend in Brent crude oil prices during December.
"The global economy is seeing some light at the end of the tunnel with expectation over China's economic outlook leading the global recovery from the impact of COVID-19 with its robust export growth, strong government spending and low infection rate," ANRPC said.
A recent World Bank forecast indicates the world economy will expand by 4 percent in 2021, recovering from a contraction of 4.3 percent in 2020.
"A vaccine-led economy will be a game changer to sustain the recovery from a pandemic-hit economy globally," concluded ANRPC, cautioning that containment measures remained essential worldwide.