【TOPGLOV 7113 交流专区】顶级手套

回酬

我想投资TOPGLOV, 但始终下不了手！

Mr.Business

我想天然气迟早要涨价。


。。。国油生产天然气的价格是每单位（mmBTU）15元至16元，可是只以每单位6元40分的价格出售予独立发电厂，因此单单倒贴成本的数额就高达约9元，我国天然气的耗用确实有必要检讨，最低程度要以成本价售出。。。
沙兹接着说：“目前天然气的市价是每单位41元，与售于独立发电厂的价格有多么大的差距！如果我们没有好好利用天然气，很肯定地，有一天这个能源将耗尽。”。。。
。。。首相昨日回复槟城首席部长兼峇眼区（Bagan）议员林冠英（右图）的口头提问时指出，国油自1974年至2007年3月 31日的税前盈利、权利金（royalty）、股息和出口税高达5700亿元，而自1997年5月至2008年3月，国油承担的天然气津贴总额是780亿元。。。
。。。林冠英今午在国会召开记者会质疑，为何政府发放超过50%的天然气津贴给独立发电厂。他指出：“780亿元的天然气津贴，大部分给了独立发电厂，这不符合公众利益……我们不希望利润私营化，损失公众化。”。。。
。。。政府提供的天然气津贴高达马币156亿元，独立发电厂就占了马币67亿元津贴，反之，小型企业以及住户享有津贴才占3.9%。。。

http://chinese4.cari.com.my/myfo ... page=39#pid42950836

[ 本帖最后由 Mr.Business 于 22-5-2008 11:00 AM 编辑 ]

2750一号

可能和手套业没关系，不过我想告诉大家，最近这几个月，SBR胶块从7块左右涨到9块出，实在是可怕。
而SBR胶块是制造轮胎的主要原料之一，不难想象影响有多大

Mr.Business

请问NBR的价钱如何？

Nitrile rubber, or Buna-N, is a synthetic rubber copolymer of acrylonitrile (ACN) and butadiene. Some trade names are: Nipol, Krynac and Europrene.

Nitrile butadiene rubber (NBR) is a family of unsaturated copolymers of 2-propenenitrile and various butadiene monomers (1,2-butadiene and 1,3-butadiene).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nitrile_rubber

Mr.Business

Asia NBR spot offers to rise on tight BD

14 January 2008 04:22  [Source: ICIS news]
By Helen Yan

SINGAPORE (ICIS news)--Soaring butadiene (BD) feedstock is forcing downstream synthetic rubbermakers to impose hefty hikes on their products in a bid to keep pacewith the upward spiral in upstream costs, producers and traders said onMonday.
The latest to initiate price hikes were nitrile rubber (NBR) producers, who raised spot offers by about $200/tonnne to $2,700-2,900/tonne (

[ 本帖最后由 Mr.Business 于 22-5-2008 11:43 AM 编辑 ]

Mr.Business

August, 2006的文章。。。

Manufacturers balance cost, comfort and quality to meet changing glove market

With latex prices soaring, many glove manufacturers are converting or expanding operations to accommodate growing demand for nitrile, a better performing but traditionally higher-priced material that is finding new application in the competitive world of cleanroom gloving

By Bruce Flickinger

If you work in a critical manufacturing environment and use or specify the use of latex gloves, there’s a good probability that your company is being asked to bear some rather stiff increases in the cost of these most critical pieces of protective equipment.

Click here to enlarge image


Photo courtesy of Riverstone Resources Pte. Ltd.

This largely is because the costs of raw materials involved in making latex gloves have skyrocketed, increasing, by some accounts, as much as 350 percent in the past three years. There is simply a finite supply in the face of growing demand, and this does not appear to be a seasonal or temporary problem. Labor costs in the main glove-manufacturing countries are on the rise as well, so suppliers, already operating at or very near optimum efficiency, are being hard-pressed to absorb these increases internally.

“Many companies use latex because of its low cost, so the market traditionally has not been able to support significant price increases,” says Chris Heiland, director of sales with Value-Tek (Phoenix, Ariz.). “Glove makers can’t pass on these price increases, which is causing many of them to go out of business.”

Other glove manufacturers, or “dippers,” are converting their operations to production of nitrile gloves, the primary alternative to latex and increasingly the first choice for highly sensitive operations such as disk-drive manufacturing. Heiland, who is involved in his company’s product development efforts and recently returned from a tour of glove manufacturing operations in Malaysia, says that, compared to three years ago, there are about half as many latex glove dippers there.

Bob Clark, technical sales manager with Protective Industrial Products (Guilderland Center, N.Y.), says rising prices are expected across a range of raw materials. “Any time there are price increases, people start looking around at different materials,” he says. “Nitrile will be seeing price increases too due to increases in oil prices. It’s the nature of the industry when you’re dealing with petroleum- and rubber-based products.”

The upshot is a changing dynamic in the market for latex gloves and, by extension, for cleanroom gloves made of nitrile and other materials. Critical manufacturing companies in microelectronics, semiconductors and hard disk drives (HDD), along with FDA-regulated companies in pharmaceuticals and biotechnology, are more carefully evaluating their glove suppliers and glove usage decisions and, where necessary, undertaking the difficult process of changing the gloves their operators use.

“Gloves are probably the most important items of protective clothing in critical manufacturing because they come into direct contact with the products,” says Jason Baker, global technical program leader with Kimberly-Clark Professional, based in Roswell, Georgia. “Yield is the king in clean manufacturing, and gloves can affect yield. These are intensely competitive industries, and any change in glove use requires a careful assessment of costs, operator concerns, impact on yield, and a thorough qualification process.”

Reconsidering latex

Different end users place differing priorities on certain glove performance characteristics, and until recently, latex fulfilled most of these needs economically. In semiconductor and HDD manufacturing, microcontamination is the key concern, and low particulate, low ionic extractables, low out-gassing and good electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection are among the most critical elements of a glove. Conversely, the function of the gloves used in pharmaceutical manufacturing is to prevent product contamination from manufacturing personnel as well as to protect the personnel when handling the products. Here, the critical issues are bioburden and sterility, and pinholes are a particular worry because of the potential exposure to pathogens. Latex still is largely the material of choice for these companies, but even this is beginning to change.

“The primary reason people use latex is for its stretchability, and tactile feel and dexterity attributes,” Heiland says. “It feels good and affords the wearer a good grip. But just about every other attribute is negative when compared with the alternative.”

Carmen Castro, marketing and product development manager with MAPA AdvanTech Inc. (Columbia, Tenn.), says the company is still seeing a high level of use of latex gloves among semiconductor manufacturers. But, nitrile “is one of the toughest materials on the market when it comes to snag, puncture, abrasion and cut resistance, and offers a broad range of chemical protection,” she says. “It is a versatile polymer that handles the largest combination of physical and chemical hazards in a wide range of applications.”

Click here to enlarge image


Value-Tek’s nitrile cleanroom glove can be used in any critical application where ultralow particulate and extractables are required. Suitable for Class 1 [ISO 3] cleanrooms and above, the glove conforms to a number of test standards, including IES-RP-CC-005 and ASTM D3578-77, D412, D573 and D5151. Photo courtesy of Value-Tek.

Latex, or more precisely a polymer called polyisoprene, is a natural raw material and as such is subject to more variability when compared with petroleum-based nitrile. “The change in season, the nature of the soil and fertilizers used in the rubber plantation are some of the factors that can affect variables in the latex and therefore make consistent quality control of the gloves more challenging,” says S. K. Lau, vice president of Riverstone Resources Pte. Ltd.

Although many companies have manufacturing operations in Malaysia, Thailand or China, Riverstone is a Malaysian company with a network of international offices, including one in the U.S. (Gilbert, Arizona). Roughly 80 percent of its production is nitrile gloves, with the balance in natural rubber gloves. Lau says a further issue with latex gloves is that their surfaces are comparatively tackier due to the double-bond structure. They require higher use of calcium carbonate in production and stronger chlorination in postproduction, resulting in higher levels of particulates and ionic extractables.

Nitrile, a copolymer containing acrylonitrile, butadiene and methacrylic acid, is structurally different and presents fewer variables to the manufacturing team, Lau explains. Gloves manufactured using this material provide relatively fewer particulates, lower ionic extractables, better ESD protection and stronger resistance to chemicals. Essentially, these “are the performance characteristics of a glove required today in critical-environment manufacturing,” Lau says.

Lau concurs that HDD manufacturing is becoming increasingly sensitive to contamination. “Natural rubber cleanroom gloves generally are no longer able to meet some of the specifications demanded from the end users,” he says. As a result, HDD manufacturers, including those subcontracting in components, “have replaced natural rubber gloves with nitrile cleanroom gloves in a majority of their production processes.”

Similarly, although microelectronic and semiconductor manufacturers largely use vinyl gloves because of their manufacturing requirements, “there has been a gradual migration to nitrile gloves in recent years,” driven mainly by the increasingly stringent manufacturing environment in this industry, Lau says.

The making of a glove

While their compositions differ, latex and nitrile gloves are made in roughly the same manner. The process is well-understood and generally a continuous industrial operation, but it’s not simple. Kimberly-Clark Professional, for example, has identified 65 critical parameters in its manufacturing processes. “You need to have a sturdy process with good quality systems in place,” Baker says.

Click here to enlarge image


PIP Technical glove offerings include nitrile, latex, vinyl, copolymer vinyl and glove liners that are used in a variety of critical environment applications. Photo courtesy of Protective Industrial Products.

Both materials must be formulated with compounds that help maintain flexibility, assist curing, increase tensile strength and help them adhere to molds during the molding process. Suppliers agree that formulations vary and affect glove quality dramatically. Heiland notes that new nitrile formulations, for example, “make [gloves] better feeling. You can have a thinner glove without sacrificing tensile strength.” In any case, users should look carefully at the materials used in the glove formulation before making a decision.

Click here to enlarge image


Kimberly-Clark Professional SAFESKIN* Critical White Nitrile Ambidextrous Gloves for Cleanrooms are packaged in a Class 100 [ISO 5] cleanroom. The gloves are latex-free, have an AQL level of 1.5 for pinholes, and are static-dissipative in use. Photo courtesy of Kimberly-Clark Professional.

Other formulations include MAPA’s TRI-polymer blend of nitrile, neoprene and natural rubber, a combination it says affords excellent glove strength and durability with high-level protection against a range of chemicals and mixtures. Testing at the company has determined that when natural rubber is processed and manufactured to a high level it will afford similar cleanliness levels to synthetic-based alternatives. The company also offers fluoroelastomer gloves that provide resistance to aliphatic, aromatic and chlorinated solvents. “Fluoroelastomer is a weak polymer when it comes to mechanical properties, so we combine it with nitrile,” Castro says. “We put the fluoroelestomer on the outside layer for chemical resistance and nitrile on the inner layer for mechanical strength.”

On the downside, although inferior formulation materials present an initial cost savings, they are a poor investment over the long term, says Randy Kates, general manager, safety business, with Kimberly-Clark Professional. He says that some manufacturing operations, in order to contain costs, are looking for ways to shorten their process or use alternative materials, which may compromise glove quality. Another important point: “Users need to assess glove degradation after actual use in their processes, not just when they’re fresh from the factory,” Kates says.

In the manufacturing process, a mold form-essentially a hand model that is dipped into the liquid formulation-determines the glove size and the surface-texture design. For both latex and nitrile, the speed of the production line (the number of dips a mold form makes) determines the mil thickness and strength of the glove. The slower the mold runs through the vat and the more dips made, the thicker is the resultant glove. Durability, puncture resistance, pinhole reduction and chemical resistance all are affected to some degree by the thickness of the glove.

When the dip or forming process is completed, latex gloves are subjected to a vulcanization process to remove excess chemicals remaining from the mold process, to reduce odor and add elasticity to the latex. The gloves are then stripped from the mold formers and enter the final cleaning and treatment phase. Gloves destined for critical environments are chlorinated, which, while hardening the material and reducing shedding, can reduce the shelf life of the product.

Hydrolyzed cornstarch is often added to latex gloves, which makes donning easier and helps shorten the manufacturing process. However, studies show that the starch binds to the latex proteins and acts as a vector transfer of protein to the skin, contributing to much publicized problems with latex allergies.

Healthy hands

Skin health, along with protection of the process, is a major point of consideration with gloves. “You need to look at skin health, comfort and feel because cleanroom manufacturing operations are not like a healthcare setting where someone wears gloves for a short period and then removes them,” Baker says. “Operators wear them for much longer periods of time.”

The most common reaction associated with gloves is contact dermatitis, which can develop not only from glove use, but frequent and repeated use of hand hygiene products and exposure to chemicals. CDC classifies contact dermatitis as either irritant or allergic. Irritant contact dermatitis is common, nonallergic, and develops as dry, itchy, irritated areas on the skin around the area of contact.

By comparison, allergic contact dermatitis (Type IV hypersensitivity) often results from exposure to accelerators and other chemicals used in the manufacture of gloves. Allergic contact dermatitis manifests as a rash beginning hours after contact and, as with irritant dermatitis, is usually confined to the areas of contact.

The more serious systemic allergic re-action is latex allergy, or Type I hypersensitivity to latex proteins. It usually begins within minutes of exposure but sometimes can occur hours later. It produces varied symptoms; these commonly include runny nose, sneezing, itchy eyes, scratchy throat, hives and itchy burning sensations. Though uncommon, more severe symptoms can manifest, including difficulty breathing, coughing spells, and wheezing; cardiovascular and gastrointestinal ailments; and in rare cases, anaphylaxis and death.

Additionally, because cleanroom gloves are worn for extended periods-up to two hours in some operations-they can have a deleterious effect on the process as well as the wearer’s hands. “Gloves will degrade over extended wearing periods primarily due to oils and sweat from the hands,” Baker says. “Inferior formulations can show significant degradation after two-hour use; our research has shown some gloves can contain as much as 60 percent pinholes” after two hours of wear.

Heiland sounds a related note of caution regarding changes in glove supply, even from the same glove manufacturer, noting that product batches coming from different production facilities technically should be requalified but often aren’t. “A lot of glove manufacturers are outsourcing parts of their operations, using different formers or dippers,” he explains. “Savvy customers are aware of these types of changes, which glove manufacturers must make to remain competitive, but which also need to be considered.”

Assessing quality

Gloves used in cleanroom environments are subject to a number of testing standards depending upon the application for which they are used. Testing performed on MAPA Critical Environment gloves, for example, consists of particle, extractables and NVR using IEST-RP-CC005.3, along with ASTM D739 and ASTM D471 to test for chemical permeation and degradation, and EN 388 for mechanical properties. Additionally, MAPA latex gloves are tested for natural rubber protein levels using ELISA (enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay) ASTM D6499. Castro adds that over and above ASTM testing, the company performs light air inflation tests on chemical-resistant gloves to detect pinholes and defects.

Click here to enlarge image

Qualifying gloves, particularly when changing to a new material or formulation, is a critical and demanding process for both end users and their suppliers. The gloving industry is “very competitive and the greatest challenge is complacency-getting a company to consider changing its glove supplier,” Heiland says. PIP’s Clark adds that, “Larger companies require more technical data before even evaluating any type of glove change. With smaller companies it really comes down to price.”

Aside from cost and material performance issues, gloves are probably the most intimate piece of protective clothing, subject to wide variation in fit, feel and comfort. Heiland says some companies use a quality investigation to drive their glove-use decision, while others are more operator-sensitive and, here, it is “hard to get a consensus” on glove type, Heiland says. K-C’s Kates adds, “Customers have a feel for their gloves. They know what they need.”

According to Clark, for operators, “the issue is strictly comfort. If someone has been wearing latex gloves for 20 years, it’s hard to get them to agree to a change. Nitrile provides the closest fit and feel to latex, so it’s easier to go from latex to nitrile than to vinyl as long as certain chemicals aren’t involved. Many companies already have both latex and nitrile gloves due to the allergy issue.”

Most customers want to see evidence of process control in the manufacture of the gloves, and new customers typically will audit the manufacturing facility, Kates says. They’ll then perform a trial with a population of their users, and when a comfort level is reached, they’ll request batch certificates of analysis that give detailed lot information about particle shedding, extractables, pinholes and other quality data.

For its part, Value-Tek offers test data on the Internet for every product lot produced, and works with an accredited university that provides independent testing of product lots every 90 days, which allows current and prospective clients to do quality trending.

Baker says Kimberly-Clark Professional provides customers with product specifications and independent test data, followed by production samples for performing their own analytical testing. Customers will then perform a small-line trial, looking for changes in yield as well as negative feedback from operators. An extensive cost analysis will be conducted before the full implementation. “The entire process can take from two to six months,” Baker says.

Heiland notes that the electronics industry, in particular, is very mature, marked by high levels of consolidation and educated customers. “Global electronics companies, although they currently are somewhat fragmented, are moving toward achieving consistency across all their sites. They want to use the same product and pay the same costs.”

Riverstone supplies products to global locations for its customers; Lau says, along with cost, choosing products from the same manufacturer across operations is a quality control measure for consistency. Even subcontractors are often required to use gloves from the same manufacturer as the parent company.

Click here to enlarge image


Dipping and stripping of nitrile at Riverstone’s facility in Malaysia. The company’s final processing stages, from DI water washing to packing, are performed in certified Class 10 and Class 100 [ISO 4 and 5] cleanrooms. All operators are trained to adhere strictly to cleanroom protocols. Photo courtesy of Riverstone Resources Pte Ltd.

Among life science and other FDA-regulated companies, where there “is a much greater use of latex because of its dexterity and fit,” Heiland says a full validation must be performed should a change in glove use be considered. “This is a difficult process involving a more significant documentation trail,” he says, “because any change could affect human life, which clearly is much different than affecting yield.” Different process lots will be tested and monitored on an ongoing basis to afford the company more than just a snapshot of glove production.

Clark affirms that “in the life sciences, latex is dominant. Sterile latex has been available for years, though sterile nitriles are beginning to make a dent.” He adds, “Historically, in pharmaceuticals, price increases haven’t been as much of a factor as in electronics.”

Click here to enlarge image


A Class 10 [ISO 4] packaging room for testing and packaging cleanroom nitrile gloves at Value-Tek’s facility in Kuala Lampur, Malaysia. Photo courtesy of Value-Tek.

Riverstone operates three manufacturing plants located in Malaysia, Thailand and China, each of which is equipped with an analytical laboratory. Besides conducting in-process quality control from incoming material through finished products, Lau says the company validates the quality of its products in each shipment based on the specifications and testing protocol given by the particular customer. Customers also want evidence that accurate control data are generated by appropriate testing protocol, properly calibrated equipment and well-trained personnel. Testing information normally contains data on cleanliness, ionic extractables and absence of unallowable elements such as silicone oil. A certificate of conformance is issued for the shipment if all specifications are met and is forwarded to the customer. “For most customers, this certificate is available electronically by login with a password into a Riverstone Web page,” Lau says.

Summary

While quality is obviously of key importance, the cost component also factors prominently into most glove-use decisions. Glove manufacturers and end users alike are finding they have to do some recalculating due to recent changes in the cost structure of raw materials.

Regardless of the long-term import of this situation for glove manufacturers, other materials that are proven, perform well and meet demands for cleanliness are available for end users. Manufacturers are endeavoring to meet these needs, which grow ever more exacting as manufacturing processes aim to conform to higher performance standards.

So while cost always affects a purchasing decision, it should not be considered singularly. “Product cost must be supported by consistent product quality and customer services,” Lau says. “The management team, technical knowledge and R&D activity of the company are other factors that need to be taken into account.”
CleanRooms August, 2006
Author(s) :   Bruce Flickinger

http://cr.pennnet.com/Articles/A ... p;p=15&cat=Feat

Mr.Business

新闻。
FDA clears glove made from new type of latex

April 24, 2008 -- /FDA/ -- The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has cleared for marketing the first device made from a new form of natural rubber latex, guayule latex. The product, the Yulex Patient Examination Glove, is derived from the guayule bush, a desert plant native to the southwestern United States.

Traditional latex gloves are made from the milky sap of a rubber tree, Hevea braziliensis. The sap contains a protein that may trigger allergic reactions, especially after prolonged and repeated contact. Sensitized people may experience mild reactions such as skin redness, rash, hives, or itching. More severe reactions may include respiratory symptoms such as difficulty breathing, coughing spells, and wheezing. Rarely, shock may occur.

Estimates vary, but anywhere from 3 percent to 22 percent of all health care workers are sensitized to traditional latex. Available data on the new guayule latex show that even people who are highly allergic to traditional latex do not react on first exposure to guayule latex proteins.

"This approval has the potential to make a significant difference to both the general public and the medical community at large," says Daniel Schultz, M.D., director of FDA's Center for Devices and Radiological Health. "Gloves made from guayule latex may prove to be a safer alternative for some people with sensitivity to traditional latex, and yet they will not sacrifice the desirable properties of traditional latex such as flexibility and strength."

Health care workers first began using traditional latex gloves in the 1890s, but concerns about allergic reactions increased in the late 1980s after modifications in glove materials made them more sensitizing just as glove use was soaring in response to the HIV epidemic. Some health care institutions have since responded by shifting to alternative glove materials for their workers.

FDA has taken numerous steps to address the glove allergy problem including working with the industry to develop a consensus standard that identifies maximum protein and powder levels for medical gloves. A 1998 rule requires that all medical devices containing latex carry a statement on the label warning about the risk of allergic reactions. Because there is no data on people's long-term experience with the Yulex glove, the product will carry a warning for now about the potential for allergic reactions.

The Yulex glove is made by the Yulex Corporation of Maricopa, AZ.

http://cr.pennnet.com/display_ar ... -new-type-of-latex/

2750一号

原帖由 Mr.Business 于 22-5-2008 11:41 AM 发表
Asia NBR spot offers to rise on tight BD

14 January 2008 04:22  [Source: ICIS news]
http://www.icis.com/assets/getasset.aspx?ItemID=15915By Helen Yan

SINGAPORE (ICIS news)--Soaring butadiene ( ...

你查到的价钱是固体状的NBR，而手套业用的是液体状的，不一样。
液体状的，我就没法查到了，因为我没有用到，供应商不会报价

Mr.Business

哦，谢谢通知。我想都是涨价的。。。

34350

这个月的天然胶价格涨幅相当厉害，上涨幅度超过 7%。

江湖

顶级手套会不会大会原型？？

Mr.Business

在股市，什么事情都可能发生。。。

john123

cut loss at RM4.48. 亏了 RM1000+.

john123

原帖由 8years 于 8/5/2008 10:08 发表
topglove股价明显是被一个大户抬高，是非常危险的，有起应该卖，绝对不能买进。最近topglove已经脱离基本因素，股价的表现脱离基本面应有的价格，大户迟早也会中造。

要买的人要小心。另外强调一点，中国的什么症 ...

对不起，没有听8years 大哥的话。 亏了千多ringgit.

Mr.Business

Top Glove现在在4.52到4.54之间，是洗盘吗？我不知道，但我个人是不建议买进啦，风险似乎很高。。。

[ 本帖最后由 Mr.Business 于 26-5-2008 10:36 AM 编辑 ]

lawrence311

原帖由 Mr.Business 于 26-5-2008 10:26 AM 发表
Top Glove现在在4.52到4.54之间，是洗盘吗？我个人是不建议买进啦，风险似乎很高。。。

请问前辈，什么叫洗盘？

Mr.Business

Google是我们的好朋友。。

http://www.google.com.my/search? ... illa:en-US

kit13

洗盘??

一起洗盘子的日本学生向他请教技巧。 他毫不避讳,说:"你看,洗了七遍的盘子和洗了五遍的有什么区别吗少洗两次嘛。" 日本学生诺诺,却与他渐渐疏远了。 餐馆老板偶尔抽查一下盘子清洗的情况。 ... 他痛心疾首地告诫准备到日本留学的中国学生:"在日本洗盘子,一定要洗七遍呀" "这就是WTO的规则"教授厉声棒喝。 我们不禁 ...洗盘..

Mr.Business

2008财政年：
第一季度Top Glove的revenue是RM336483K，净利是RM29787K；
第二季度Top Glove的revenue是RM320775K，净利是RM28369K；
因此首两个度Top Glove的revenue是RM657258K，净利是RM58863K。

我们将业绩乘二以估价整年的业绩，估价全年的revenue是RM1314.5 million，净利是RM117.7 million。

Top Glove本身预测2008财政年的营收增加27％,达到RM1.56 billion，总盈利增加23％,达到RM125 million。

如果Top Glove要达倒本身的预测，接下来两个季度的业绩revenue至少分别得是RM451.37 million，净利是RM33 million。

Mr.Business

新闻。

Tuesday May 27, 2008
Local natural rubber price hits all-time high
By EUGENE MAHALINGAM

PETALING JAYA: The price of local natural rubber closed at an all time high of 976.5 sen per kg yesterday in tandem with the 28-year high rubber futures reached on the Tokyo Commodity Exchange (TOCOM), sparked by fears of limited global supply.

The seller's closing price for tyre grade Standard Malaysian Rubber 20 (SMR 20) was 976.5 sen per kg, up 11.5 sen from its Friday close, while latex in bulk surged 6.5 sen to 632 sen per kg from 625.5 sen per kg previously.

On TOCOM, natural rubber futures, the global benchmark for the commodity, hit 341.8 yen (RM10.67) per kg, the highest since April 1980.

Analysts said the surge in natural rubber futures was spurred by speculation that China, the world's largest consumer of rubber, may increase purchases after its stockpile of the raw material fell.

According to the International Rubber Study Group, a London-based research institute, natural rubber consumption in China increased 5.6% to 2.53 million tonnes last year.

A Bloomberg report quoted a Tokyo-based analyst as saying that the increase in demand for rubber was mainly attributed to robust vehicle sales.

Thailand, the world's biggest rubber exporter, has also increased prices of the commodity sold to foreign buyers due to slow production.

The Bloomberg report said while rubber output would generally pick up this month following the end of the dry season, production this year had slowed down because of cool weather and insufficient rain.

In Malaysia, the hike in rubber prices was not just due to high demand from China but also the weakening US dollar as investors shifted to commodities.

A dealer said unhealthy hedging by hedge funds was also behind the surge in prices of most commodities, including rubber.

OSK Research analyst Thong Pak Leng said the high rubber price still augured well for glove manufacturer Top Glove Corp Bhd.

“Certain items such as medical gloves are mandatory. Even if (rubber) prices are high, the demand would still be there. Latex in bulk prices were higher in mid-2006 and glove manufacturers were still able to make profit. “

“The current price should not have too much of an impact on profit margins,” he said.

http://biz.thestar.com.my/news/s ... 08&sec=business