Global rubber output may rise 3.1% in 2012 – ANRPC

BANGKOK (Reuters): Global natural rubber production is expected to rise by 3.1 per cent to 10.415 million tonnes in 2012, little changed from the previous forecast of a 3.6 per cent rise made in November, the Association of Natural Rubber Producing Countries (ANRPC) said on Wednesday.

“The downward revision results from the upward revision for the base year output,” the ANRPC said in a report. It has revised up its forecast for 2011 output to 10.100 million tonnes from 10.023 million.

The ANRPC groups Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia, which are the top three producers, as well as Cambodia, China, India, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka and Viet Nam.

The group account for 92 per cent of global output and exports.

The ANRPC said supply would fall in the first quarter, as every year, because it is the dry season in many of the main producing countries from February/March and that reduces output.

The ANRCP expected demand to be slow in the first quarter of 2012, due mainly to the persistent debt problems in the euro zone that could cut demand in general.

“Natural rubber demand is likely to stay sluggish during the first quarter of 2012,” it said, without giving any precise forecast.