How much rubber in the world?

The global production of natural and synthetic rubber in 2012 exceeded 26.5 million tons, with a 1.4% increase over 2011. In detail, according to the International Rubber Study Group, the production of natural rubber barely exceeded 11.3 million tons, with Thailand (over 3.5 million tons) and Indonesia (just over 3 million) first and second among the principal supplying countries. In the synthetic elastomer sector, the top producer was China, with over 3.8 million tons (just under 3.5 in 2011), followed by the United States with 2.3 million (2.5 in 2011), Japan with 1.6 (in line with the previous year), and South Korea with 1.5.
World rubber consumption approached 26 million tons, consisting of 11 million t of natural, of which 3.85 was consumed by China, and 15 million t of synthetic, consumed one-third by China and 1.8 million by the United States. Consequently, the increased demand for elastomers - over 8.9 million t versus 8.3 million in 2011 - came right from China. Among the EU countries, on the other hand, there was a widespread decline in consumption with respect to 2011: in Germany, for example, the reduction was 10%, in France 13%, and in Italy the decline reached 19% for natural rubber (down to just over 93,000 t) and 18% for synthetic (just below 82,000 t).