China on Tuesday bought around 54,000 mt of Ribbed Smoked Sheet grade natural rubber from local suppliers for government stockpiles, end-users and industry sources said Wednesday.
The rubber was purchased from either three or four domestic sellers with prices ranging between Yuan 20,200($3,296)/mt and Yuan 21,500/mt, a trader said.
In mid-September, traders had said the State Reserve Bureau met with Sinochem International, China Hainan Rubber and Yunan State Farms Group to buy around 150,000 mt of natural rubber. Simultaneously, the bureau was seeking another 50,000 mt of imported RSS.
On Tuesday, Sinochem and China Hainan were among the sellers mentioned.
China is a leading global consumer of natural rubber, having imported 2.18 million mt of the commodity in 2012.
Amid low prices for natural rubber, China has been increasing its imports of natural rubber. For instance, on October 13, Thailand said China had agreed to buy 200,000 mt/year of rubber from the Southeast Asian producer "on a government-to-government basis."
It was unclear if the deal with Thailand was related to China's stockpiles.