Automotive Industry Promotes Rubber Consumption Demand 2018 Synthetic Rubber Production Will Surpass 6 Million Tons

Synthetic rubber is an artificial rubber synthesized by chemical methods. It has excellent elasticity and is widely used in many fields such as vehicles, home appliances, and medical products. According to the characteristics of use, synthetic rubber can be divided into general-purpose synthetic rubber and special synthetic rubber. Among them, general purpose synthetic rubber refers to a kind of rubber that can be partially or completely substituted for natural rubber, such as styrene-butadiene rubber, butadiene rubber, isoprene rubber, etc., and is mainly used for tire products and general industrial rubber products.

At present, the major producers of synthetic rubber are the United States, China, Japan, Russia, and Germany. With the recovery of the global economy, the continuous development of the automotive industry in emerging economies has driven the demand for rubber consumption. China, Japan, and the United States continue to maintain their leading position in global rubber consumption.

According to statistics, in 2017, the cumulative output of China's synthetic rubber was 5.778 million tons, a year-on-year increase of 4%. In January-February 2018, the national total output of synthetic rubber was 1.045 million tons, accumulatively increasing 2.5% year-on-year.

National Synthetic Rubber Production Statistics for January-February-2018

Current value of the indicator (10,000 tons) Cumulative value (10 thousand tons) Year-on-year growth (%) Cumulative growth (%) February 2018 - 104.5 - 2.5 December 2017 52.8 578.7 8.4 4 November 2017 60.3 536.4 16.2 3.8 2017 10 Month 57.3 488 5.5 2.5 September 2017 50.4 431.7 -8.2 2.3 August 2017 48.4 381.9 -6.2 4 July 2017 50.8 333.3 -0.4 5.6 June 2017 52.9 282.4 3.5 6.8 May 2017 49.7 229.9 0.2 7.9 2017 April 45.4 179.6 4.1 10 March 2017 46.4 134.2 10.5 11.8 February 2017 - 87.8 - 11.4 Source: Forward-looking database consolidation

With the accelerated pace of China's tire industry and infrastructure, including SBR, PBR, CR, NBR, IIR, The 8 major synthetic rubber varieties including polyisoprene rubber (EPR), ethylene propylene rubber (EPR) and thermoplastic styrene-butadiene rubber (SBCS) have all achieved industrial production. China has become the largest producer of synthetic rubber. According to forecasts from the Industrial Development Research Institute, China's synthetic rubber production will exceed 6 million tons in 2018.

National Synthetic Rubber Production Statistics and Forecast

Source: Forward-looking database consolidation

While the production of synthetic rubber in China continues to increase, the demand for synthetic rubber also maintains a rapid growth. The apparent consumption of major synthetic rubber in China increased from 3.852 million tons in 2012 to 4.4 million tons in 2016, and the self-sufficiency rate remained at approximately 73%. General synthetic rubber basically achieves domestic scale production, but special synthetic rubber still basically relies on imports. Domestic consumption of rubber such as styrene-butadiene rubber and butadiene rubber has reached over 80%, while that of butyl rubber and ethylene-propylene rubber is less than 40%.