Migrated – Original Post Date: Feb 25, 2019

The annual Rubber Trade Association Singapore (“RTAS”) Rubber Dinner was held at Raffles City on Feb 22, 2019. Participants to the event included rubber manufacturers, end user companies, traders, international financial institutions, futures companies and industry professionals and is attended by more than a thousand strong crowds from the region.

Straits Financial Services Pte Ltd (“Straits Financial”) is honored to attend the event as a member of RTAS. An award ceremony was held at the Dinner by the Singapore Exchange (“SGX”) to recognize brokers who have made outstanding contributions to the rubber market. Straits Financial was awarded the SGX SICOM Top 3 Brokers of the Year (2018) for two consecutive years.  This award is not only an affirmation of Straits Financial’s accomplishments and relevance, but also a testament of our commitment to support the industry, and striving always to provide value-added services to our clients.

In conjunction to the RTAS Rubber Dinner, Straits Financial also attended the SGX Rubber Forum that was held during the day. There were about 160 participants from Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam, Sri Lanka, Thailand, India, and China at the forum.

The main discussion topics of the forum are as follows:

  • SGX trading volume for rubber has increased by six folds in the past five years to about 1.8 million in 2018.
  • SGX rubber option is expected to be launched in the second quarter of 2019.
  • Dr. Hidde Smith believes that rubber prices will increase in the long run, and is supported mainly because there was little or no replanting of rubber trees due to the low prices in recent years, with an expectation that supply may decrease.The market has almost no expansion due to low price from 2015 to 2018.
  • Mr. Kevin Kim, Bloomberg Intelligent: China’s auto sales are expected to taper off to a slower growth rate. China aspires to be the industry leader in the development of electronic vehicles. China’s foreign vehicles penetration rate is only 17% and still has potential for growth.
  • Key take-away points that have headlined this year’s forum are that weak economic fundamentals may continue to depress rubber prices in the near term, but expectations of supply reduction is expected to support the uptrend of rubber prices in the longer term. The markets in general are paying close attention to the trade negotiations.

Mr. Jeremy Ang, Group CEO of Straits Financial Group, receiving the award.

Mr. Jeremy Ang, Group CEO of Straits Financial Group, Mr. Roger Quek, Managing Director of Straits Financial Services Pte Ltd, representatives from Straits Financial overseas offices and invited guests.

Straits Financial and its guests attended the SGX Rubber Forum.