Rubber companies in despair as price falls As rubber companies totally depend on export price, they are likely to fail in achieving their business targets for this year, with rubber prices currently at their lowest. Losing trend in the global rubber market started from 2012, mainly caused by the economic crisis, especially the sovereign-debt crisis in Europe which urged these countries to cut spending, seriously affecting automobile industry, leading to a slump in the rubber processing industry. Experts forecast that rubber prices would rebound in the first quarter of this year as global economy showed signs of recovery and China was expected to gradually regain growth while rubber supply declined, as rubber trees entered a low-productivity period. However, things happened differently. At the end of the first quarter of this year, RSS rubber future price on Tocom trading floor fell 16 percent compared to that in the beginning of this year, due to the ongoing European debt crisis, … [Read more...] about BUSINESS IN BRIEF 29/5