Tire Rubber Plunging as Vietnam Tappers Expand World Glut
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Producers of natural rubber used mostly in tires are creating a global surplus for the fourth straight year, leaving prices mired in a bear market that is the worst of any major commodity.
Farmers will expand output faster in 2014 than the gain in demand from surging car sales, creating the biggest glut in at least a decade, the International Rubber Study Group said May 2 in an estimate that was triple its forecast in December. Futures in Tokyo, down 62 percent from a record in 2011 after touching a four-year low last month, may drop 12 percent further to 180 yen a kilogram ($1,759 a metric ton) this year, a survey of 13 analysts by Bloomberg News showed.