February 1 2023, Singapore, Helixtap Technologies, the independent AI-driven price and market intelligence for the rubber industry, today announces the launch of two new rubber grades in its Global Rubber Index Prices (GRIP). Standard Malaysian Rubber 20 (SMR20) and Standard Vietnamese Rubber 10 (SVR10) will have prices assessed according to their unique origin-based pricing factors to increase price accuracy and discovery in the rubber industry.
Vietnam is the third largest producer of natural rubber (NR) in the world, producing a whopping 1.28 million tonnes and exporting USD 3.28 billion in 2021 alone [x], illustrating the demand for accurate origin-based pricing. Conversely, 87.8% of annual NR production in Malaysia is produced by smallholder farmers who have grown tired of its low, volatile prices and have switched to more stable and lucrative crops. NR production in Malaysia has steadily declined since 2017, producing only 469,669 tonnes in 2021 (Ali, Akbar, Smith, et al, Mahidin, MRB). Unbiased physical price assessments are fundamental to foster a fair and transparent supply chain, especially upstream where it has proven crucial in ensuring the longevity of the rubber industry.
Helixtap Technologies provides the only independent physical price assessments for different grades and origins of natural rubber that reflect the market’s dynamics and create sentiment consensus to lessen the significant price expectation gaps caused by reliance on futures prices. Helixtap has created a novel, robust product suite that utilises multitudes of rubber-specific factors to provide accurate price benchmarking and forecasting tools for futures and physical prices, and thus, reduce the market’s opacity.
GRIP is Helixtap Technologies’ proprietary multivariate index; one of the calculated variables is transacted physical rubber deals across Asia Pacific and the Atlantic. Anomalous data is filtered out to ensure GRIP reflects accurate, transactable prices.
With daily accurate price assessments through GRIP, all rubber market participants from up to downstream will benefit significantly from using a fairer, more transparent price index in contracts to reflect the rubber market’s dynamics. Helixtap Technologies also publishes a weekly price index for latex and raw materials (Indonesia and Thailand).
Farah Miller, CEO of Helixtap Technologies continues, “The high accuracy of our physical price index has created much demand for a wider range of origin-based price assessments amongst our subscriber base. We are excited to launch our index for Malaysian and Vietnamese rubber, which we have identified as key geographies for the industry in this upcoming fiscal year.”
About Helixtap Technologies
Helixtap Technologies are pioneers of groundbreaking, AI-driven price and market intelligence for the rubber industry. Helixtap Technologies publishes a proprietary physical rubber price index (GRIP), price forecasting, and in-house market research daily. Fully independent since its inception, Helixtap Technologies takes no positions in the rubber market and has zero influence on pricing.
Helixtap Technologies GRIP – Assessments
Daily
SIR20 FOB BEL/SBY basis
STR20 FOB BKK/LCB basis
AFR10 CIF Hamburg/Rotterdam basis
Implied AFR10 FOB Abidjan
Weekly
SMR20 FOB PNG/Klang basis (New!)
SVR10 FOB HCM basis (New!)
Bulk Latex FOB BKK basis
Indonesian raw material
Thai raw material
TSR20 Mixture CIF China Main Ports