By Rattaphol Onsanit Dec. 8 (Bloomberg) -- Natural rubber futures in Tokyo dropped to a near six-year low on concern that demand for the raw material used in tires will decline as U.S. carmakers seek government aid to survive. The commodity fell after the chief executives of General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC testified at hearings last week that they need a combined $14 billion to keep operating through March 31. U.S. lawmakers worked to hammer out details of a package to bail them out that could be presented to Congress as early as tomorrow. “Any breakthrough in the rescue plan for American automakers will only provide a short-term lifeline for their liquidity,” Rewat Yenchai, an analyst at Bangkok-based AGROW Enterprise Ltd., said today by phone. “Car output will have to be cut and that’s hurting rubber.” Rubber for May delivery dropped 1.8 percent to 106.7 yen a kilogram ($1,078 a metric ton) on the Tokyo Commodity Exchange at the 11 a.m. local time break after earlier falling as much as 4.8 percent to 103.4 yen. Prices reached a six-year low of 99.8 yen on Dec. 5. The most-active contract reached a 28-year high of 356.9 yen June 30 as record oil prices boosted production costs for synthetic rivals distilled from naphtha produced from petroleum. March-delivery rubber on the Shanghai Futures Exchange, the most-active contract, lost for a ninth day, falling 0.6 percent to 9,095 yuan ($1,322) a ton at 10:30 a.m. local time. To contact the reporter on this story: Rattaphol Onsanit in Bangkok at ronsanit@bloomberg.net

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