By Dominique Patton
BEIJING, Nov 28 (Reuters) - Rubber stocks in warehouses monitored by the Shanghai Futures Exchange dropped to the lowest level since October 2013 this week as dealers sold off inventory ahead of expiry of the November contract.
Shanghai rubber stocks fell 24.3 percent from the previous week to 136,531 tonnes <SNR-TOTAL-DW>, data released by the exchange showed.
The drop was driven by exchange rules requiring warehouses to rotate out old stock, and was not expected to have any impact on prices, said Quan Shuwen, analyst at Dongwu Futures.
Rubber stocks held in Qingdao's bonded warehouses are more closely watched by the market as they comprise the bulk of inventory in the world's top rubber consumer.
Qingdao stocks stood at 134,400 tonnes this week, according to traders. There was as much as 339,9000 tonnes at Qingdao in February, when Shanghai stocks were just above 200,000 tonnes.
The most-active Shanghai rubber futures contract edged slightly lower on Friday to 12,695 yuan ($2,067) per tonne. ($1 = 6.1429 Chinese yuan) (Editing by Tom Hogue)