Rubber Consumption

Last year global rubber consumption increased by 5.9% and our analyses on regional rubber consumption shows Asia/Pacific has continued to dominate over other regions. A decline in growth is forecast in 2008. Contact [email protected] for the forecasts for 2008 and beyond.

The beginning of NR/SR competition

The 1950s and 1960s saw a period of intense market competition between NR and SR. Within 20 years, improved types of SR began to dominate industrial consumption, holding almost 71% of the market by 1979. Technological changes, including the development of radial tyres and the increasing use of NR latex products, have caused this share to drop quite rapidly since then. It is currently estimated to be just under 60%.

See NR/SR substitution for further discussion on this subject.

Historical Background

The rubber industry began in the early years of the nineteenth century with the collection of natural rubber (NR) from trees growing wild in the Amazon jungle. The establishment of plantations in Southeast Asia, under colonial control at the beginning of the twentieth century, led to the rapid eclipse of wild rubber in South America and Africa, which was both uneconomic and carried out under conditions of appalling human slavery.

NR was the only choice

From 1914 to 1942, the only elastomer available in commercial quantities was NR, but in the latter years, the United States Government implemented a programme to develop the synthetic material

which eventually contributed to the success of the Allied war effort. By 1944, output of synthetic rubber (SR) was over 800,000 tonnes. As can be seen, NR and SR are completely different in their characteristics.

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