Rubber Price Declines

Kottayam: The rubber prices fell sharply on July 18. On the physical front, sheet rubber declined to Rs 81 from Rs 83 a kg both at Kottayam and Kochi after hitting a high at Rs 83.50 on early trading. The futures market fell further quoting the August contract for RSS 4 at Rs 80.05 (82.93) a kg on MCX. The August contract for the grade fell to Rs 80.31 (83.34), September to Rs 79.18 (82.09), October to Rs 79.01 (82.16) and November contract to Rs 78.57 (82.43) per kg on NMCE. The volumes improved to 5,008 (3,065) lots. RSS 3 was weakened at its August futures to 249.3 Yen (Rs 82.74) from 254.9 Yen a kg at TOCOM. Spot prices were (Rs/kg): RSS-4: 81 (83); RSS-5: 79.50 (81); ungraded: 78 (79); ISNR 20: 79.25 (80.50) and latex 60 per cent: 57.90 (58.40).