General Rubber Product

The Rubber Economist Ltd

General rubber product

General Rubber Products (GRPs) can be conveniently divided into three categories: industrial products, e.g. moulded and extruded products, belting, hose and tube etc; consumer products, e.g. footwear, toys, sports and leisure goods; and latex products, e.g. dipped goods, thread, adhesives, carpet underlay, etc. The relative importance of these products varies from country to country and varies over time. The Rubber Economist Ltd can help you identify a potential market for you and estimate the demand for your products. Please contact [email protected] for further information.

The move towards powder-free medical examination gloves may have continued and polyurethane gloves have increased in popularity. Development of products made with synthetic elastomers and guayule latex has continued. Growing concerns over NR latex allergies have led some governments to seek solutions via legislation. NR’s demand may also decline due to environmental factors. Clean air laws and tougher auto emissions standards have led to less NR and more EPDM being used in some products, including motor mounts. This can be seen in the graph below. Nevertheless the share of latex to total NR consumption at the world level is still continuing to rise in the latex sector. In general NR is a more environmentally friendly product than SR (see Environmental issues).

World share of NR latex to total NR consumption, 1960-2007

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