Rubber Industry: The Recent Trends

Over the years the rubber industry has grown by leaps and bounds. Natural rubber is extracted from the rubber plants or rubber trees of a particular kind known as Hevea brasiliensis. Synthetic rubbers on the other hand are produced chemically from petrochemical feedstock. The primary synthetic rubbers include nitrile, isoprene, styrene-butadiene, butyl, chloroprene, polysulfide, silicone, urethane and ethylene propylene diene terpolymer (EPDM). Like every other industry, global rubber industry too has been influenced by the society's changing trends and occupations. Today, rubber plantations in most of the tropical regions have become an integral part of the national economy. As per a latest report by the International Rubber Research Experts, amongst the world's 17.1 million tons of elastomers, 7.89 million tons totaled for natural rubber.

Southeast Asian countries have always been on the forefront in case of rubber production. Countries like Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and Vietnam together make the world's largest rubber producing areas. The rubber product manufacturing industry uses manufactured, natural or synthetic rubber for making various articles like hoses, tires, belts etc. Though industrial rubber products are virtually used in every industry but the dominance of rubber remains in the automotive sector the most. Though the specialty product manufacturers spend more than the industry average time on the detailed research and development in rubber industry for the obvious reason of making their rubber product stand out in the market.

The key factors of competition in rubber industry are the relative level of technology, scale of operation, proximity to markets and the service to customers. But in the recent years, the increase in the prices of raw materials has indirectly trickled down to consumers, also making the producers slimmer their profit margins for building and maintaining customer loyalty.