[Kabar-indonesia] 22 RI Biz/Econ Reports: New Banking Rules; World's Largest CPO Producer; BNI

[JoyoNews at aol.com]

22 reports:

- Indonesian c.bank to issue new
  banking rules-gov
- Indonesia tipped to be world's 
  largest palm oil producer in 2010
- Move to lift log export ban criticized 
  in Indonesia
- Indonesia has too many banks:
  central bank chief
- Small Indonesian banks seeking
  mergers
- Indonesian clearing system can 
  help uncover illegal transaction
- Indonesia submits instrument 
  to ratify UN-anti graft convention
- Indonesia's BNI sets Sept 29 
  deadline for debtors to file NPLs 
  repayment plans
- Overseas Chinese Bank to team 
  up on Bank NISP acquisition
- ABN Amro to open sharia unit in
  Indonesia
- Jakarta bourse to delist Texmaco 
  Jaya if co fails to submit corporate 
  plan
- Indonesia's Indosat gets govt 
  certification to launch 3G service
- Holcim Indonesia says 2007 
  capex may reach 20 mln usd
- Daihatsu Indonesia expanding 
  production, outlets
- Bakrie Sumatera To Sell USD 
  Bond Next Few Weeks - Source
- Indonesia Pan Sino To Open Mfg
  Facility In Singapore
- Indonesia's Matahari chalks 
  up 25.3% increase in H1 sales
- Indonesian textile body finds 
  32 cases of transshipments
- Indonesia palm oil down on 
  Malaysian futures
- Indonesia seeking closer economic 
  ties with Middle-East
- Singapore's JADE starts trading 
  in rubber futures
- Asia Rubber-TOCOM hits 
  nine-month low in thin trade

Indonesian c.bank to issue new banking rules - governor

JAKARTA, September 25 (Reuters) - Indonesia's central bank plans to
issue new banking regulations, including measures to promote mergers,
in a bid to strengthen the sector, its governor told parliament on
Monday.

Burhanuddin Abdullah did not give a time table, but said the new rules
would include measures on how commercial banks should treat loans to
customers who are victims of natural disasters.

"BI is in the final stages of preparing banking regulations pertaining
to natural disasters, providing incentives in the process of mergers,
as well as other banking areas we feel are relevant to the needs of
this country right now," the head of Bank Indonesia (BI), the central
bank, said.

"We hope to be able to issue the new regulations soon. They will be
published in a package of new banking regulations," he said, without
giving details.

Indonesia has been hit by a plague of natural disasters, the latest of
which was a major earthquake in May around the city of Yogyakarta in

Java, affecting the local economy.

Indonesia has around 130 commercial banks. That is around half the
number that operated before the Asian financial crisis of 1997-1998,
but analysts and authorities still consider the total too high.

Indonesia issued around 650 trillion rupiah in bonds to bail out banks
following the Asian financial crisis, but analysts say more reforms
including mergers are needed to strengthen the sector.

----------------------------------

Indonesia tipped to be world's largest palm oil producer in 2010

JAKARTA, September 25 (Asia Pulse/Antara) - Indonesia could become the
world's largest producer of palm oil in 2010 relegating Malaysia to
the second place, an official said.

Indonesia's crude palm oil (CPO) production has increased faster than
that of Malaysia, R.B. Iskandar Kristanto, president of the Citra
Widya Palm Oil Polytechnic Education said .

In 2001, Malaysia' production of CPO totaled 13.4 million tons, up to
15.1 million tons in 2005 or an increase of 1.7 million tons during
that period.

In the same period the country's production rose . and Indonesia's CPO
production rose 5.9 million tons to 14.2 million tons during the same
period, Iskandar pointed out.

He said in Indonesia the opportunity to expand plantation is much
greater than in Malaysia, which has problems over limited availability
of land.

He said this year the government plans to expand oil palm plantations
by 160,000 hectares to meet growing demand for CPO from bio fuel
industry.

---------------------------------

Move to lift log export ban criticized in Indonesia

JAKARTA, September 25 (Asia Pulse/Antara) - An expert has criticized
a suggestion to lift log exports saying the move could trigger more
rampant illegal logging and log smuggling from the country.

Chalid Muhammad, a professor at the state Bogor Institute of
Agriculture and an executive director of Walhi, a non-governmental
environmentalist organization, said the suggestion by the forestry
ministry shows its inconsistency in protecting the country's natural
forest.

"If the ban on log and veneer export is lifted, the already rampant
illegal logging will be more rampant, Chalid said.

Director General for Plantation Forests Deny Kustiawan said earlier
that the forestry ministry has received proposals from the region to
lift the ban and the proposals have been discussed between related
government agencies.

The government has said that exports would encourage investors in
venturing in plantation forest projects.

Chalid, however, said it takes up to 15 years before HTI are ready to
export logs, meanwhile, timber processing industry has complained
about scarcity of log supply in the country.

In fact many plywood and saw timber factories have been reported
stopping operation for scarcity in raw material supply.

-----------------------------------

Indonesia has too many banks: central bank chief

JAKARTA, September 25 (Xinhua) -- Bank Indonesia Governor Burhanuddin
Abdullah Monday said the country would make a significant progress if
it successfully reduces the number of banks to around 70 from the
current 130.

Indonesia has too many banks, which would not pose any problem if they
are all financially strong.

"Of the total 130 banks in Indonesia, 50 are too small (in terms of
assets) and they cannot compete with other domestic or foreign banks,"
he said in an open hearing with the House of Representatives'
commission here.

The central bank encourages smaller banks to merge into bigger ones to
strengthen their capital base, he said.

The government, in its efforts to restructure banks, may raise the
minimum capital requirement to 100 billion rupiah (10.8 million U.S.
dollars) by 2010.

---------------------------------------------------------------

Small Indonesian banks seeking mergers

JAKARTA, September 25 (Asia Pulse/Antara) - A number of small
Indonesian banks have take steps toward merger among themselves this
year to comply with a call from Bank Indonesia.

The central bank, which is concerned with consolidating the country's
banking industry, has called for merger or acquisition among small
banks to be able to meet its consolidation targets.

The central bank has issued a regulation requiring banks to have at
least Rp80 billion (US$8.7 million) in capital next year and at least
Rp100 billion by the end of 2010.

Bank Ganseha and Bank Mitra Niaga are is seeking merger with other banks.

Bank Mitra Niaga is reported seeking merger with Bank Harfa.

Yang Ahmad Rizal , Licensing and Information Director of Bank
Indonesia said the central bank hopes that consolidation could be
implemented through merger and acquisition.

Merger and acquisition among themselves will be better than having
them sold to foreign banks, Rizal said.

A number of small Indonesian banks have been sold to foreign bank such
as Haga Bank and Bank Hagakita to Rabobank from the Netherlands as the
banks could not raise fund to meet minimum capital limit set by the
central bank

----------------------------------------------------------------

Indonesian clearing system can help uncover illegal transaction

MEDAN, N Sumatra, September 25 (Asia Pulse/Antara) - The National
Clearing System (SKN) designed to save more accurate banking
information can help investigators uncover illegal bank transactions,
Deputy Governor of Bank Indonesia, the central bank, Maulana Ibrahim
said here Friday.

The National Clearing System which saves information on customer data
and time of transfers, and on the recipients of money transfers, as
well as on operator indentity, has enabled Bank Indonesia to have more
complete data on transactions, Ibrahim said.

Furthermore, he said, highly confidential computer identity and data
as well as operator passwords are registered at Bank Indonesia's main
server.

"With the data, BI can give a better contribution to investigators in
their efforts to uncover funds suspected to come from illegal
transactions," he said after symbolically dedicating the National
Clearing System in Medan, Padang (West Sumatra), Banjarmasin (South
Kalimantan), Sibolga (North Sumatra), Batam (Riau), Pekanbaru (Riau),
Pontianak (West Kalimantan), Kendari (Southeast Sulawesi) and Palu
(Central Sulawesi).

The nine BI regional offices are the latest to be connected to the
system, so with the installation of the system, all the BI regional
offices became integrated under a clearing system.

According to Ibrahim, data on transactions would be provided to
investigators upon request, or to the state under the prevailing
regulations.

"The National Clearing System (SKN) will not only benefit the banking
world or the government but the customers as well," he said.

The SKN with the real time system was designed for time efficiency, he
said, adding that when the central bank still used postal transfers,
the clearing transaction would take two to four days, but it takes
only a couple of minutes or even seconds when using the SKN regardless
of distance, locations and time difference.

-----------------------------------------------------------------

Indonesia submits instrument to ratify UN-anti graft convention

JAKARTA, September 25 (Asia Pulse/Antara) - The Indonesian government
has submitted an instrument to ratify the UN Convention Against
Corruption to UN Secretary General Kofi Annan at the UN Headquarters
in New York, a Foreign Ministry spokesman said.

Foreign Minister Hassan Wirajuda submitted the instrument to the UN
early this week, Desra Percaya said in New York on Friday.

"Corruption is an extraordinary transnational crime so that we need
international cooperation to fight it," Desra said.

The UN Convention began to take effect on December 14, 2005 after 30
countries had submitted instruments to ratify it, he said.

Indonesia is the 65th country to submit such an instrument.

Under Law No.7/2006, the Indonesian government had ratified the
convention, he said.

Wirajuda told reporters in Jakarta before leaving for New York some
time ago that corruption was not only national but also global issues.

Even the UN General Assembly sessions between 2002 and 2003 focused on
fighting corruption. After lengthy negotiations, 128 UN members
including Indonesia adopted the Convention Against Corruption on
October 31, 2003, he said.

On a regional scale, concrete actions against corruption became a
central topic of discussion at the APEC Summit in Santiago, Chile, in
2004, and in Busan, South Korea, in 2005, he said.

"This convention is designed to enhance international cooperation in
chasing and arresting corruptors and seizing and returning their
ill-gotten wealth to their countries of origin," he said.

-----------------------------------------------------------------

Indonesia's BNI sets Sept 29 deadline for debtors to file NPLs repayment plans

JAKARTA, September 25 (XFN-ASIA) - State-run PT Bank Negara Indonesia
(BNI) said it has set a Sept 29 deadline for its debtors to submit
their plans to accelerate the repayment of nonperforming loans (NPLs).

Those who fail to meet the deadline, will be required to voluntarily
sell collateral no later than Oct 4 in order to pay off their NPLs, it
said.

If they are unable to meet the deadline they will be deemed
non-cooperative debtors and BNI will launch litigation proceedings
against them.

BNI's NPLs ratio had risen to 13.7 pct by the end of 2005, nearly
three times bigger than the previous year's 4.8 pct.

----------------------------------------------------------------

Overseas Chinese Bank to team up Bank NISP acquisition

JAKARTA, September 25 (Asia Pulse/Antara) - The Overseas Chinese Bank
Corp (OCBC) Limited of Singapore has said it will team up with Bank
NISP to acquire other banks in Indonesisa.

NISP Managing Director Muliadi Hardja said that OCBC, which owns 72%
of NISP, is set to expand its operations in the country.

Muliadi said that OCBC and NISP, however, were still preparing the
criteria of banks to be acquired.

Earlier last week, Davis P. Conner, the chief executive officer of
OCBC, said the bank will expand operations in a number of Asian
countries, including Indonesia.

Muliadi said that acquisition was a way of business expansion planned by OCBC.

----------------------------------------------------------------

ABN Amro to open sharia unit in Indonesia

JAKARTA, September 25 (Asia Pulse/Antara) - ABN Amro NV said it plans
to open a sharia unit in Indonesia early next year.

A sharia bank operates under Islamic sharia laws which prohibit banks
from receiving or offering interest, as profits and losses are shared
with clients.

Sharia law also prohibits banks from offering finance to industries
related to gambling and weapon.

Henk G. Mulder, country executive of the bank, said the sharia unit
will be opened in the first half of 2007.

"ABN Amro already has sharia units in Dubai and Pakistan and we hope
to open one in Indonesia," Mulder said last weekend.

Indonesia is the world's largest Muslim country, with around 80% of
its 220 million population Muslims.

-----------------------------------------------------------------

Jakarta bourse to delist Texmaco Jaya if co fails to submit corporate plan

JAKARTA, September 25 (XFN-ASIA) - The Jakarta Stock Exchange (JSX)
said it will delist textile firm PT Texmaco Jaya if the company fails
to submit its corporate plan by Oct 22 as ordered.

In a statement, the JSX said Texmaco Jaya has been ordered to submit a
corporate plan on how it intends to restore operations to normal
capacity.

The company has already failed to respond to a similar request in 2004
after its shares were suspended from trading by the bourse.

Texmaco Jaya has said that due to difficulties in securing working
capital, it has been operating below 20 pct of capacity.

JSX has previously delisted two other units of the ailing Texmaco
Group -- PT Texmaco Perkasa Engineering and PT Wahana Jaya Perkasa.

The group is one of the government's largest debtors, owing the state
some 29 trln rupiah in the wake of the 1997-1998 financial crisis.

----------------------------------------------------------------

Indonesia's Indosat gets govt certification to launch 3G service

JAKARTA, September 25 (XFN-ASIA) - PT Indosat, a 40.77 pct-owned unit
of Singapore Technologies Telemedia, said it has received government
certification to launch its third generation (3G) cellular service.

Indosat deputy president director Kaizad B. Heerjee said in a
statement that the company will launch the service by end of this
year, initially offering it in in Jakarta and Surabaya.

------------------------------------------------------------------

Holcim Indonesia says 2007 capex may reach 20 mln usd

JAKARTA, September 25 (XFN-ASIA) - Cement maker PT Holcim Indonesia
said its capital expenditure for next year may reach 20 mln usd.

It said in a statement that the capex will be spent on maintenance of
its facilities and will be funded from internal cashflow, not from its
parent, the Holcim Group.


-----------------------------------------------------------------

Daihatsu Indonesia expanding production, outlets

JAKARTA, September 25 (Xinhua) -- Japanese carmaker Daihatsu has plans
of expansion in Indonesia, including increasing production capacity
and developing more outlets across the country, an executive has said.

"We plan to increase our production capacity from the current 114,000
units per year to 150,000 units next year," Johannes Loman, president
director of PT. Daihatsu Sales Operation, was quoted Monday by The
Jakarta Post newspaper as saying.

"We'll also further expand and strengthen our distribution network and
improve after-sales services by raising the number of outlets across
the country."

Daihatsu will continue to target the compact car market, cars with an
engine capacity of below 1500 CC and a selling price of 150 million
rupiah (16,483 U.S. dollars).

"Daihatsu's decision to make Indonesia its production base outside
Japan will result in more affordable and more competitive Daihatsu
cars," he said.

"We see very good prospects for Daihatsu next year. Compact cars such
as Xenia and Taruna are becoming more and more popular in the
Indonesian market. That's why we're sure that more and more
Indonesians will buy our cars in the future."

Daihatsu last year managed to get an overall market share of about 10
percent and targets to increase to at least 10.5 percent this year.

With the average sales of 2,700 units per month, Xenia sells the most
and has about 5,000 people on the waiting list, he said.

------------------------------------------------------------------

Bakrie Sumatera To Sell USD Bond Next Few Weeks - Source

SINGAPORE, September 25 (Dow Jones)--Indonesia's PT Bakrie Sumatera
Plantations (UNSP.JK) plans to sell US$110 million worth of five-year
senior secured notes in the international debt market within the next
few weeks, a person familiar with the deal said Monday.

The bond will be issued by Bakrie Sumatera's wholly-owned unit BSP Finance 
B.V.

Bakrie Sumatera has selected boutique firm Jefferies to lead manage the deal.

Moody's rates the proposed deal B2, while Standard & Poor's has
assigned a B rating.

The company, which operates rubber and oil palm plantations, was
originally reported planning to tap the debt market in May.

The proceeds from the bond issue will be used to finance the company's
capital expenditure program.

------------------------------------------------------------------

Indonesia Pan Sino To Open Mfg Facility In Singapore

SINGAPORE, September 25 (Dow Jones)--Indonesia's third largest cocoa
bean trader, Pan Sino International Holding Ltd., is venturing into
cocoa manufacturing by setting up its first processing facility in
Singapore.

The company broke ground for the facility Monday.

The cocoa processing plant, located at Jurong Industrial Estate, will
be the largest cocoa processing plant in Singapore once construction
is finished after three years, the company said in a statement.

The first cocoa processing line is expected to have an annual
processing capacity around 20,160 metric tons of cocoa products for
export to Europe, the U.S. and Asia.

This is the Hong Kong-listed firm's first major investment outside of
Indonesia and was undertaken through its wholly-owned unit Hesley
Cocoa International Pte. Ltd.

Singapore is already home to two other leading cocoa product
manufacturers - Cadbury Schweppes and Archer Daniels Midland.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Indonesia's Matahari chalks up 25.3% increase in H1 sales

JAKARTA, September 25 (Asia Pulse/Antara) - Sales recorded by publicly
listed retail company PT Matahari Putra Prima (JSX:MPPA) surged 25.3
per cent to Rp3.48 trillion (US$386.6 million) in the first half of
this year compared to the same period last year.

The company said in a statement, its department store division
contributed Rp1.75 trillion to the income and supermarket division
contributed Rp1.56 trillion .

Its operating profit surged 64.7 per cent to Rp112.4 billion and its
net profit rose 15.7 per cent to Rp44.1 billion.

Its president Benjamin Mailool expressed satisfaction with the
performance of the company amid the business slump following a 100 per
cent hikes in oil fuel prices late last year.

--------------------------------------------------------------------

Indonesian textile body finds 32 cases of transshipments

JAKARTA, September 25 (Asia Pulse/Antara) - In 2005, there were at
least 32 cases of textile transhipments from China to Indonesia for
export to the United States and Latin America to avoid a curtailed
entry of Chinese textiles to those regions.

"It is possible that the transhipments could have happened this year,"
director of the Indonesian Textile Association (API) Ernovian G
Ismyketika said on the sidelines of a 2006 textile expo in Jakarta on
Sunday.

Ismyketika said he suspected the Indonesian surveyor company,
Suconfindo had used an official statement from the trade
representatives office of the Karawang district, for the transhipment
of Chinese textiles to Mexico.

"In fact, the seven official statements issued by the Karawang
district trade office turned out to be illegal (fake), because
according to the record of the Import Director of the Trade Ministry,
in 2005 there were no such official statement from the Karawang
district trade office," he said.

To his surprise, the official statements which were allegedly illegal
were corroborated by a surveyor's certificate from Sucofindo which had
approved the commodities for re-export to a destination country.

"According to the plan, if agreed by the executive board of API we
will report this case to the Corruption Eradication Commission," he
said.

As to transhipment to the US, 25 official statements were issued by
Jakarta, Bali and West Java.

"We received this information from the US customs office. We have
asked the police to process the case," he said.

He added that the transhipment was not in favour of the domestic
textile industry, as Indonesian export were recorded by officials of
the destination country as having increased, but without any benefit
to the domestic textile industry.

Ismyketika said he is worried that Indonesia could receive trade
sanctions if the case remained unchecked as this would be a signifiact
blow for the domestic textile industry.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Indonesia palm oil down on Malaysian futures

JAKARTA, September 25 (Reuters) - Indonesian palm oil prices fell on
Monday, dragged down by weak market sentiment after losses in
Malaysian palm oil futures, dealers said.

At the state marketing centre in Jakarta, crude palm oil traded lower
at 4,125 rupiah ($0.449) per kg compared with 4,168 rupiah last
Tuesday, with 500 tonnes changing hands.

There was no auction in North Sumatra's Medan, the main port for palm
oil exports.

"The market sentiment was not too good today, tracking the (Malaysian)
index that was down a lot below its support level," a trader in Medan
said.

By the midday break, the benchmark third-month December <KPOZ6>
<0#KPO:> contract on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives exchange was down
28 ringgit to 1,517 ringgit ($413) a tonne and later closed at 1,506
ringgit.

Weak sentiment also put presure on the cooking oil market in Jakarta
with RBD palm olein trading lower at between 4,650 and 4,675 rupiah
per kg compared with 4,670-4,700 rupiah on Friday.

"Players retreated from the market, watching the price movement," a
Jakarta-based trader said.

On the export front, sellers offered October shipments at between at
$420 and $425 a tonne free on board Belawan port, with no bids
reported.

November and December shipments were offered at between $420 and $425,
while bids stood at $415.

------------------------------------------------------------

Indonesia seeking closer economic ties with Middle-East

JAKARTA, September 25 (Asia Pulse/Antara) - Indonesia and Middle East
countries have moved closer to bring to reality agreements to expand
economic cooperation, a cabinet minister said.

State gas distributor PNG and Islamic Development Bank (IDB) signed
last week a memorandum of understanding under which IDB will help
finance PGN's projects, Minister for State Enterprises Sugiharto said
in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia last weekend.

Meanwhile state steel maker PT Krakatau Steel signed a cooperation
agreement with Saudi second largest steel maker Al Tuwarqi for the
construction of a steel plant in South Kalimantan.

PT Karkatau Steel has a plan to build a steel pellet plant in South
Kalimantan where a potential iron ore reserve has been discovered.

Special envoy of the president for Middle East Alwi Shihab said at
least six state companies have signed memorandums with counterparts
from the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia , Qatar and Kuwait .

Alwi said the Emar Group from Dubai will develop tourism sector in
Lombok, West Nusatenggara and Qatar Bank will open its office in
Jakarta.

---------------------------------

Singapore's JADE starts trading in rubber futures

By Lewa Pardomuan

SINGAPORE, September 25 (Reuters) - JADE, a joint venture between the
Chicago Board of Trade and the Singapore Exchange , started trading
its first rubber contract on Monday in what organizers said was only
the beginning in a drive to capture the Asian hedging market.

The electronic Joint Asian Derivatives Exchange launched a natural
rubber grade contract called Technically Specified Rubber 20, or TSR20.

The February contract started trading at $1.725 a kg and promptly
slumped to a low of $1.710. Four 20-tonne contracts were traded by
0409 GMT.

The exchange also plans to launch a crude palm oil futures contract by
end of this year, which will compete with the contracts on Bursa
Malaysia, which trades CPO futures <0#KPO:>.

"This is just the start," Christopher Malo, executive vice president
of the CBOT, told Reuters after the launch.

"There's a lot of work still to be done to educate people. Commercial
users are not utilising this hedge vehicle in mechanism as effectively
as they could and that's the opportunity for JADE," he said.

World rubber prices have risen sharply in the last five years but the
contract was launched just as prices have taken a sharp fall and are
now off more than 8 percent on the year.

The main producers, Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia, have been
struggling to raise supply to meet demand, especially from China,
which devoured 21 percent of global rubber output last year.

The rubber contract is for delivery at Singapore points on a
free-on-board basis and are priced in U.S. cents per kg. Trading hours
are from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., Singapore time.

The TSR20 grade includes Indonesia's SIR20 tyre grade rubber, Thai
STR20 and Malaysia's SMR20.

"We have approved 73 factories from all these three countries that
will be deliverable against our contract. We have already embraced
them," said Chong Kim Seng, the exchange's managing director.

"I am glad to say that this platform enables the world to assess the
market wherever they are electronically. JADE's ideal is not to be a
one type only. JADE's ideal is to bring out Asian commodities and
globalise them," he said.

Malo said the new exchange was also talking with the Singapore
Commodity Exchange, which also trades rubber futures, to see if the
exchanges could work together.

"We continue the dialogue to find the way for our two exchanges to
work together to ensure that Singapore remains the single trading hub
for trading rubber globally, and we share that objective," he said.

JADE will also look into other agriculture products, as well as metals
and energy.

Malo said the idea is to introduce products in pairs or multiples to
attract the big trade houses that use palm, rubber, and other
commodities.

---------------------------------------------------------------------

Asia Rubber-TOCOM hits nine-month low in thin trade

By Apornrath Phoonphongphiphat

BANGKOK, September 25 (Reuters) - Tokyo rubber futures hit nine-month
low on Monday after being traded in bearish mood capped by poor
sentiment, thin demand and easing oil prices, traders said.

The benchmark February 2007 contract on the Tokyo Commodity closed at
203.8 yen ($1.75) per kg, down from Friday's close at 205.8 yen after
hitting an nine-month intraday low of 200.6 yen.

"It's a very bearish market and it keeps going down," a
Singapore-based trader said.

The benchmark February contract tested the key support of 200.0 yen
per kg as players continued to sell in the absence of fundamentals to
support prices, a trader said.

"Not only speculators, not only funds, everyone is a seller right
now," a dealer said.

A benchmark TOCOM contract last fell below 200.0 yen on Dec. 1, 2005.

Another reason for the pressure on prices was a fall of oil prices,
which usually attracts tyre-makers to shift to cheaper sythetic
rubber, a petrochemical product.

Nymex crude slid to test its six-month low under $60 per barrel on
Monday due to growing concerns about cooling U.S. economic growth.

On the physical front, rubber prices slid in line with TOCOM, although
less supply was expected to come onto the market over the next few
days as wet weather disrupted tapping in some parts of Thailand's
south, the main growing area.

"Prices fell, tracking TOCOM, but we can say that rains protected them
from falling significantly," a trader in the southern Thai town of Hat
Yai said.

"Prices were expected to rebound as it could not break the key support
of 200 yen, suggested that somebody bought them back," another trader
said.

HOLIDAYS

But trade on the physical market was expected to be thin over the next
few weeks due to holidays in major rubber buying and selling countries
in Asia.

Most buyers, especially the Chinese, are expected to stay on the
sidelines over the next few weeks ahead of their country's national
holiday in early October.

Traders in Indonesia, the world second-largest rubber exporter, were
entering the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.

On the physical front, prices also dropped with Thailand's benchmark
RSS3 rubber-sheet quoted at $1.74 per kg, down slightly from around
$1.78 on Friday. Tyre-grade Standard Thai Rubber, or STR20 block, was
quoted at $1.75 per kg.

The price of unsmoked sheet number three, the raw material for
export-grade RSS3, was offered in Thai markets at around 53.50 baht,
or $1.43, per kg, down from around 57.0 baht on Friday.

Thai 60 percent concentrated latex was quoted at around $1,220 per
tonne in drums, free on board, for November shipment and around $1,120
per tonne in bulk.

Indonesian tyre-grade SIR20 was unchanged at 78 U.S. cents per pound
for November shipment.

------------------------------------------
Joyo Indonesia News Service
------------------------------------------