Global elastomers

According to a survey by the International Rubber Study Group, in 2013 combined world production of natural and synthetic rubber exceeded 27.5 million tons, increasing by 3.1% over the previous year. Specifically, natural rubber was just over 12 million tons (+3.8%) with Thailand holding its top ranking among main supplier countries (over 4.1 million tons, +9.6% over 2012) and Indonesia again in second place (just under 3.1 million tons, +2.2%).
China is the world's leading producer of synthetic rubber, with over 4 million tons (up from just under 3.8 in 2012) with the United States a distant second (2.2 million tons, -3.4%).
Overall global rubber consumption approached 27 million tons, broken down as follows:
- 11.4 million tons of natural rubber, of which 4.2 were absorbed by China (+7.6% with respect to 2012);
- 15.5 million tons of synthetic rubber, of which China accounts for 5.5 (+8.6%) and the United States for 1.7 million (-3.9%).
China is the clear leader of global demand and continues to grow at a sustained pace, as it has over the past five years. There are many "emerging" countries in Asia where rubber consumption is increasing strongly, albeit with a great deal of variation in volumes. The Philippines, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Pakistan, Thailand and Vietnam have recorded growth rates into the double digits, at least as regards synthetic rubber.
The European trend is much flatter, with EU countries consuming just over one million tons of natural rubber (-1.6%) and 2.4 of synthetic (-0.1%).
The following quantities have been recorded for Italy:
- synthetic rubber production - 187,000 tons (-10%);
- consumption of synthetic rubber - 171,000 tons (-5.7%);
- consumption of natural rubber - 96,000 tons (+2.5%).