China Import Rubber QTY & Price Up in QTR 1, 2017

[2017-07-04]

According to China Customs statistics for the first quarter of this year, China imported natural rubbers 761,000 tons, up 25.8% year-on-year (YOY); valued CNY 10.01 billion, up 1.3 times YOY; average import price at 13,000 yuan per ton, up 79% YOY.

Characteristics of the natural rubber import for the 1st quarter:

(1) Import quantity showed steadily higher, average price up largely YOY. In January-February, China's natural rubber import fell slightly, but on positive growth YOY. In March, 308,000 tons were imported, up 26.4% YOY and up 42.1% from Feb; with average import price at 14,000 yuan per ton, up 92.9% YOY and up 6% from Feb, as the highest since February 2014. (See the chart below).

China’s Natural Rubber Import Trend Monthly since Jan 2016


(2) Mostly imported under Customs special control. In the first quarter, China imported 292,000 tons of natural rubbers under Customs special control, up 44.5% YOY, accounting for 38.3% of the total import. Meanwhile, processing trade-based import reached 259,000 tons, up 8.1% YOY, accounting for 34%; ordinary trade imported 209,000 tons, up 27.4% YOY, accounting for 27.4%.

(3) Mostly imported from ASEAN. In the first quarter, 747,000 tons of natural rubbers were imported from ASEAN, up 26% YOY, accounting for 98.1%: among them, 481,000 tons from Thailand, up 5.9%; 134,000 tons from Indonesia, up 1.7 times; 87,000 tons from Malaysia, up 34.9%; 35,000 tons from Vietnam, up 59.5%.
 
Source: ETCN