RUBBER-Japan futures recoil as trade war woes offset off-season tight supply

SINGAPORE, March 13 (Reuters) -

• Japanese rubber futures retreated on Thursday as concerns over global trade conflict weighed on market sentiment, outweighing support from tight supply outlook.

• The Osaka Exchange (OSE) August rubber contract JRUc6, 0#2JRU: was down 4.3 yen, or 1.25%, at 338.9 yen ($2.29) per kg, as of 0221 GMT.

• The May rubber contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange (SHFE) SNRv1 edged up 10 yuan, or 0.06%, to 17,200 yuan ($2,377.07) per metric ton.

• The most active April butadiene rubber contract on the SHFE SHBRv1 eased 5 yuan, or 0.04%, to 13,755 yuan ($1,900.96) per metric ton.

• The U.S. tariff policy caused investors to worry about the outlook for global demand. The macro atmosphere is bearish, weighing on commodity markets, Chinese consultancy Jinlianchuang said in a note.

• U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to escalate a global trade war with further tariffs on European Union goods, hours after his 25% duties on all U.S. steel and aluminium imports took effect.

• Trump has also threatened to "substantially increase" tariffs on cars coming into the United States, causing shares of U.S. automakers to slide on Tuesday.

• Automobile sales could influence the intensity of automobile manufacturing, which involves using rubber-made tyres.

• Oil prices eased on concerns about the impact of tariff wars on global economic growth. O/R

• Natural rubber often takes direction from oil prices as it competes for market share with synthetic rubber, which is made from crude oil.

• Still, natural rubber is in a global low production season, the output of glue is small while the price of raw materials remains high, Jinlianchuang said.

• Rubber crops usually undergo a season of low production from February to May, before a peak harvesting period that lasts until September.

• The front-month rubber contract on Singapore Exchange's SICOM platform for March delivery STFc1 last traded at 195.5 U.S. cents per kg, down 0.9%.

($1 = 148.1700 yen)

($1 = 7.2358 Chinese yuan)