NBR Sentiments Surge in India, Demand Rise and Feedstock Lend Support to the Pricing Curve

Price of Nitrile Butadiene Rubber (NBR) in India jumped in the month of August tracing the feedstock Butadiene (BD) and strengthening demand from the agricultural sector. Sources attributed that NBR prices seem to fetch support from the agricultural rice roller sector in India, while demand from the automotive sector has remained muted for more than a quarter due to unprecedented slump in the market dynamics since the outbreak of COVID-19.The market sentiments rose few weeks after the Indian authorities initiated an anti-dumping probe into NBR imports from China, the European Union, Japan and Russia. India’s local NBR producer, Apcotex, which holds 16,000 tpy NBR capacity, had called out the concerned authorities for investigating into the material injury that excessive imports are causing to the domestic producers.  Players turned optimistic after the Ministry of Commerce and Industry issued a notification regarding initiation of probe on 26 May with anticipations of quick action to support the battered economy. NBR finds wide range of applications in oil seals, gaskets, hoses, and transmission belts in the automotive industry as well as machineries in the agricultural sector. While India’s NBR demand stands nearly at 60KTPA, the domestic production is not sufficient to cater to the entire demand without its reliance on imported volumes. Amid rising market expectations, CFR India NBR offers for August have been revised higher to USD 1,300 per tonne while Butadiene gained 1.7 per cent to $1163 per MT in the month.