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5 OVERVIEW OF NATURAL RUBBER IN INTERNATIONAL TRADE
5.1 Global Perspective
The worlds natural rubber sector has experienced an increasing trend in terms of both supply and demand from the beginning of 2000 through the end of
2010, with the demand increase being even more significant Figure 8. This trend is likely due to the rapid growth in the automotive sector, which has been
the driving force behind the increased demand for natural rubber. In the period of 2000-2010, the volume of worldwide natural rubber production is smaller than the
volume of worldwide natural rubber consumption. This is due to the low productivity of natural rubber plantations in some of the worlds natural rubber
producing countries.
A substantial increase in natural rubber production was seen from 2011 to 2013. The worlds natural rubber production volume is greater than that of
worldwide consumption, allowing for the establishment of a natural rubber surplus. The overall improvement of cultivation technology, infrastructure and
natural rubber replanting systems are a few of the reasons why natural rubber production has increased over the last decade. Additionally, the worlds natural
rubber consumption has also increased in this period, but not as significantly as in the period of 2000-2010. Currently, competition with synthetic rubber is one of
the causes behind only a mild increase in natural rubber consumption, because some industries prefer to use synthetic rubber rather than natural rubber.
Figure 8 World Natural Rubber Production and Consumption, 2000 – 2013 Source: International Rubber Study Group IRSG, 2014
In contrast to the natural rubber situation, Figure 9 shows that the world supply of synthetic rubber tends to be greater than the world demand for synthetic
rubber. This is due to the increased demand of the automotive and medicine sectors. Additionally, synthetic rubber production is not directly dependent on
natural conditions. Therefore, synthetic rubber production does is not reliant upon changes in extreme environmental conditions such as changes in weather,
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