BEIJING (May 23): China's biggest natural rubber producer on Thursday said it had suspended tapping for the commodity at some plantations from last weekend due to drought and soaring temperatures in the nation's main growing area.
Tokyo (Reuters) - Asian shares hobbled near four-month lows on Friday and crude oil plunged on worries the U.S.-China trade spat was developing into a more entrenched strategic dispute between the world’s two largest economies, pushing investors to safe-haven assets.
SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Oil markets stabilized on Friday amid OPEC supply cuts and tensions in the Middle East, after posting their steepest falls since the start of the year earlier in the week on the back of a global economic slowdown and swelling fuel inventories.
SYDNEY (Reuters) - Asian shares were stuck in the red on Thursday amid worries the Sino-U.S. trade conflict was fast morphing into a technology cold war between the world’s two largest economies.
SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Oil prices dropped on Thursday, extending falls from the previous session amid surging U.S. crude inventories and weak demand from refineries.
In first quarter of 2019, the world production of natural rubber (NR) fell 5.2%, year-to-year, accounted to 2.989 million tonnes in the presence of wintering seasons and prevailing low rubber prices to some farmers in specific countries. The new leaf fall disease outbreak in South Sumatra might also have contributed to the drop in the world NR production. The world consumption of NR also down marginally by 0.4% to 3.380 million tonnes during the same reference period. This favourable market fundamental has supported the physical NR prices across key markets with some improvements over the first three months in 2019 by hovering around US$1.45 per kg.