By Emily Ou Yong
Japanese rubber futures rose on Friday, supported by stronger China-made Tesla EV sales that improved the outlook for tyre demand, while firm raw latex prices in Thailand provided additional support.
The Osaka Exchange (OSE) rubber contract for December delivery TOCOM:TRB1!, TOCOM:TRB1! was up 3.1 yen, or 0.76%, at 409.1 yen ($2.54) per kg, as of 0200 GMT.
The contract has lost 0.22% so far this week.
The rubber contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange (SHFE) for September delivery SHFE:RU1! rose 145 yuan, or 0.87%, to 16,785 yuan ($2,475.52) per metric ton.
The most active September butadiene rubber contract on the SHFE (SHBRv1) gained 260 yuan, or 2.21%, to 12,005 yuan per metric ton.
Tesla's NASDAQ:TSLA China-made electric vehicle sales rose for an eighth month in June, supported by an extended recovery in the U.S. automaker's European sales.
Deliveries of Model 3 and Model Y vehicles made in its Shanghai plant, which is also an export hub for Europe, grew 24.4% to 89,091 units year-on-year, data from the China Passenger Car Association showed on Thursday. The increase followed a 39.4% gain in May.
Automobile sales could influence the intensity of automobile manufacturing, which involves using rubber-made tyres.
Raw latex prices in top rubber producer Thailand averaged 73.76 baht ($2.23) per kg in the first half of 2026, up 16.54% year-on-year, according to data from Zhuochuang Information Rubber Industry Observation, providing a cost floor for the natural rubber market.
The firmness in upstream costs was reflected in Thailand's benchmark export-grade smoked rubber sheet (RSS3) (RUB-RSS3C-BKK) and block rubber (RUB-STR20C-BKK), which rose 2.01% and 0.55%, to stand at 93.9 baht per kg and 77.95 baht per kg, respectively.
The front-month rubber contract on Singapore Exchange's SICOM platform for August delivery SGX:TF1! last traded at 211.5 U.S. cents per kg, up 1.3%.
($1 = 161.2200 yen)
($1 = 6.7804 Chinese yuan)
($1 = 33.1500 baht)