El Niño effect could hamper NR output

BANGKOK, Thailand (Aug. 21, 2015) — Production of natural rubber (NR) could be hampered in the coming year or longer by weather influenced by this year's El Niño weather patterns, according to a coalition of the world's leading NR-producing countries.

The current El Niño phenomenon — a disruption of the ocean-atmosphere system in the Tropical Pacific — is the strongest since 1997 and is forecast by National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), USA to linger until at least year-end and likely to continue into early 2016, according to the International Rubber Consortium Ltd. (IRCo), which comprises representatives of finance and trade departments of Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand.

 

The group's warning, posted on its website recently, coincides with a 2.1-percent drop in NR output through seven months in the countries that make up the Association of Natural Rubber Producing Countries (ANRPC). Output fell to 5.9 million metric tons.

Many countries are experiencing hot and dry weather due to the El Niño effect, the IRCo said, which impacts negatively the production of many commodities such as NR.

In addition, the group noted that low “non-remunerative” market prices would impact NR production further in all producing countries.

The ANRPC is an inter-governmental organization comprising 11 members — Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Vietnam.

These 11 countries account for more than 90 percent of global NR output.

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