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Demand and Exports of rubber

Nigeria has a comparative trade advantage on rubber production and exportation besides crude oil. Nigeria exports about 60,000 tons of natural rubber annually. The production of natural rubber in Nigeria which began in 1894 with the exploitation of indigenous wild rubber of Funtumia elastica was found to be the best source of plant because of its singular ability to renew its bark and thus ensure sustained harvest. It was introduced into Nigeria from Kew Gardens, England around 1895 with the first rubber estate planted at Sapele in 1903 and a second one at Nkisi in the then Eastern region in 1912. By 1925, some 1000 hectares of European owned estates existed in the South – western Nigeria.

Areas where grown in Nigeria

Rubber is grown in Edo, Delta, Ondo, Ogun, Abia, Anambra, Akwa Ibom, Cross River, Rivers, Ebonyi and Bayelsa States where the amount of rainfall is about 1800 mm to 2000 mm per annum. Natural rubber performs three main functions in our national economy; these are the provision of raw materials for the agro-based industries, it provides foreign exchange earnings and places Nigeria in the world map as a net exporter of rubber and lastly, it offers employment to a sizeable segment of the Nigerian farming rural.

Demand for rubber started to pick up after the global economy recovered from financial crises in late 2008 and early 2009. Positive moves in the tyre production industry which captures 68% of the total demand for natural rubber helped to boost the requirement further. Recovery in global automobile sales also helped in the recovery of rubber prices. While the requirement of natural rubber continued to increase, its production and supply did not increase at the same pace because of plantations are either too old or immature to start yielding.

The gap between the demand and supply of natural rubber increased further in 2009 when Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia, the three largest producers of natural rubber cut down the production by 4.3% of their volume to stabilize global rubber price. Rapid growth in the automobile sectors of China and India also increased the demand for natural rubber in 2011, while the supply remained low.

According to the International Rubber Study group, the global demand for natural rubber may reach 12.4 million tons by 2015 and 14.2 million tons by 2020, while the production of natural rubber can reach only 13.6 million tons/ year in 2020. Demand for natural rubber for automobile industry in China and India is also expected to increase further. https://www.foramfera.com/natural-rubber-export-from-nigeria-the-opportunities/

 

Exports of rubber by country

Global sales from natural rubber exports by country in 2016 amounted to US$12 billion.
That amount represents an average -67.1% drop in value since 2012 when natural rubber shipments were valued at $36.5 billion. Year over year, rubber shipments depreciated by -9.4% from 2015 to 2016. Among continents, Asian countries accounted for about $10.2 billion or 80% of international natural rubber sales. African exporters supplied 8.5% of the global total followed by Europe at 4.7%.

Accounting for a much smaller percentage of exported natural rubber was Latin America (excluding Mexico) and the Caribbean at 1.1% while North America was the laggard at 0.9% of global rubber shipments.

Below are the 15 countries that exported the highest dollar value worth of natural rubber during 2016:

• Thailand: US$4.4 billion (36.8% of total natural rubber exports)
• Indonesia: $3.4 billion (28.1%)
• Vietnam: $904.1 million (7.5%)
• Malaysia: $871.1 million (7.3%)
• Côte d’Ivoire: $726.3 million (6.1%)
• Myanmar (Burma): $194.1 million (1.6%)
• Germany: $153.4 million (1.3%)
• Belgium: $126.4 million (1.1%)
• Guatemala: $120.9 million (1%)
• Liberia: $106.3 million (0.9%)
• Laos: $100 million (0.8%)
• Singapore: $94.9 million (0.8%)
• Luxembourg: $94.5 million (0.8%)
• United States: $93.1 million (0.8%)
• Netherlands: $70.7 million (0.6%)

The listed 15 countries accounted for 95.4% of all natural rubber exports during 2016.

Fourteen of the top 15 natural rubber exporters posted declines from 2012 to 2016. Heaviest losers were Singapore (down -69.9%), Malaysia (down -65.8%), Vietnam (down -63.8%), Germany (down -61.9%) and Liberia (down -61.8%).

The 4-digit Harmonized Tariff System code prefix for natural rubber is 4001

Natural Rubber Exporting Companies

Below are rubber manufacturing companies that dominate the worldwide rubber trade, with a focus on rubber tire makers.

• Bridgestone Corp (Japan)
• Michelin (France)
• Goodyear (United States)
• Continental A.G. (Germany)
• Pirelli & C. S.p.A. (Italy)
• Sumitomo Rubber Industries Ltd. (Japan)
• Hankook Tire Co. Ltd. (South Korea)
• Yokohama Rubber Co. Ltd. (Japan)
• Maxxis International/Cheng Shin Rubber Industrial Co. Ltd. (Taiwan)
• Zhongce Rubber Group Co. Ltd. (China)

These 10 companies accounted for almost two-thirds of worldwide rubber tire sales in 2015.

According to global trade intelligence firm Zepol, the following companies are also important players in the rubber industry:

• PT PP London Sumatra Indonesia TBK (Indonesia)
• Lee Rubber (Malaysia)
• Transityre (France)

http://www.worldstopexports.com/natural-rubber-exports-country/

 

 

Rubber Specifications

Natural rubber also called caoutchouc, is an elastic hydrocarbon polymer that was originally derived from latex, a milky colloid produced by some plants. The purified form of natural rubber is the chemical polyisoprene, which can also be produced synthetically. Natural rubber is used extensively in many applications and products, as is synthetic rubber. It is normally very stretchy and flexible and extremely waterproof.  http://www.tenagagemas.com/

 

Rubber Prices, Economic importance and Government Policy

The liberalization of trade has exposed Nigerian rubber to the fluctuations in global rubber prices and the instability in the natural rubber prices has been a disincentive for rubber production and exports. Underlying factors in the export of natural rubber as a sub–sector of agriculture are investigated using secondary data from Nigeria during 1960–2004 and primary data rom 120 farmers and analyzed using descriptive statistics and multiple regressions. Result revealed that output and producers price exerted positive effects on export supply, that is a rise in output and producer’s price would cause exporters to export more natural rubber. However, domestic consumption quantity and annual rainfall were disincentives to rubber exporters.

Rubber producers also experienced a multiplicity of problems, which centred on inputs used in rubber production and aged rubber trees. The International market, the tone of crum Rubber can be sold for over the one thousand dollars, and the market for it is readily available.

Rubber wood is classified as light hardwood. When freshly cut, it is whitish yellow and seasons to pale cream with a pinkish tinge. In its natural form, rubber wood is non-durable, hence, first class preservation and drying treatments are required immediately after cutting to avoid discoloration, bowing and twisting of the wood. Processing equipment includes an Impregnation plant, Cross Cutter and Edger. Usually from the stock of preserved and treated wood that designs and specifications are made to meet specific contracts. Capital cost and technology required for rubber wood processing are low, while the designs and specifications can be produced relatively easy.

Rubber wood is classified as light hardwood. When freshly cut, it is whitish yellow and seasons to pale cream with a pinkish tinge. In its natural form, rubber wood is non-durable, hence, first class preservation and drying treatments are required immediately after cutting to avoid discoloration, bowing and twisting of the wood. Processing equipment includes an Impregnation plant, Cross Cutter and Edger. Usually from the stock of preserved and treated wood that designs and specifications are made to meet specific contracts. Capital cost and technology required for rubber wood processing are low, while the designs and specifications can be produced relatively easy.

Rubber wood can be used to manufacture several furniture items such as: Benches, block boards, breadboards, building components, cabinets, dinning sets, doors, furniture parts, gift boxes, jewellery boxes, parquet flooring, rocking chairs, tables, tea trolleys, television cabinets, nets, wood rack etc.

According to estimates made by the Rubber Board of India, the stock of rubber wood all over the world is on the rise; and by 2020, an annual output of 52 million cubic meters of rubber wood would be made available. Out of this total, 14 million cubic meters will be industrially usable logs.

With the demand-supply gap in the Nigerian timber market widening, the need to promote rubber wood as a veritable substitute has become very imperative. At the moment, awareness about rubber wood is low amongst timber traders and users. Even among those who are aware, only few use rubber wood. In order to promote use of this eco-friendly timber and solve the prevailing crisis of timber shortage, government should establish a promotional agency with regulatory powers supplemented with R&D facilities to implement and monitor prescribed standards for primary and secondary processing and downstream manufacturing of rubber wood in Nigeria. There should be provision for institutional support in terms of market intelligence on domestic and external markets and incentives for manufacturing value added products. Overall, there should be a perspective plan to ensure a regulated growth of the rubber wood industry in the country. Countries like Malaysia are already in the vanguard of rubber wood exports. It exports about $650 million worth of rubber wood annually supplying the U.S., Europe and Japanese markets. Philippines and Thailand are also dominant in the export market. The export market takes first quality rubber wood almost exclusively; a cubit meter of wood goes for between $250 and $350 depending on the quality. The rubber wood market requires the following: consistent quality, acceptable prices, packaging to customers’ specifications, guaranteed delivery schedules, continuity of supplies and a readiness to accept customer – led design. To ensure continuity, some South – East Asian countries have adopted the principle of planting five trees for every single one cut down. This way they have been able to develop, not only the rubber wood industry, but also the entire rubber industry.

The reality right now is that the increasing cost of sourcing rubber wood has made companies in Asia and buyers in the U. S. and Europe to search for cheaper sources particularly among rubber producing countries, of which Nigeria is a significant producer. Presently, Nigeria has an estimated 240,000 hectares of planted rubber trees, out of which an estimated 150,000 hectares are over aged. Since approximately 180 cubic meters of wood volume could be obtained from a hectare of rubber plantation, as much as 27million cubic meters of wood volume could be obtained from the existing stock of rubber wood in the country. As much as 35 standard sawn rubber wood planks are contained in a cubic meter.

Selling rubber wood plank for N600 (at this promotional stage; teak and mahogany goes for over a N1, 300 per plank), a gross retail sales value of N567 billion could be realized over time from local sales of this wood specie. Export sales value is estimated at $8.1 billion (assuming the entire stock was exported as planks; value could actually be higher if sold as manufactured products). States such as Ondo, Edo, Delta, Cross River, and Rivers, are predominantly rubber-growing states with large holdings of over aged trees. Prospective investors (including governments since some of the plantations are government owned) could set up saw milling and manufacturing plants in these areas and take advantage of the abundant raw materials available. The village dweller would earn better income from his or her over aged rubber tree if sold to these processors, instead of using it mainly as firewood for cooking.

According to market reports, the demand for rubber wood in the international markets is likely to outstrip supply in the foreseeable future, due to rising consumer preference for environmentally friendly wood products, of which rubber wood is one. More so, the rising preference for parquet flooring in the US and Europe, for which rubber has been found to be ideally suited, further promotes the commercial viability of this project.

It is not surprising that the three or four plants presently processing rubber wood for export in the country are not able to meet requests from their overseas buyers.

Rubber wood unlike most other hard woods has no export restrictions placed on it by the federal government. I therefore recommend this project to three categories of investors: First, rubber plantation owners who may want to utilized their over aged tree stock to earn foreign exchange Second, corporate organizations that may want to diversify into the rubber industry and have this project as a rubber wood – processing subsidiary. Lastly, NGOs and CBOs, involved in poverty reduction and job creation programs may set up a central rubber wood processing facility to process trees owned by community members and give rural dwellers opportunity to earn more income from their own resources. http://21stplacelive.com/Rubber.htm

 

Rubber Specifications

Natural Rubber (NR) is produced from latex obtained from rubber trees in plantations. The most important forms in which NR is processed are the following: Sheets, Crepes, Block Rubber and Preserved Latex Concentrates.

Natural rubber (NR) processed into blocks adopting a new processing techniques is a notable improvement in the presentation of dry natural rubber. In India , block rubber is marketed with BIS specifications (IS4588 – 1986) and therefore, this rubber is termed as Indian Standard Natural Rubber (ISNR).

Two types of Sheet Rubber are produced and marketed in the international market, namely the Ribbed Smoked Sheets (RSS) and the Air Dried Sheets (ADS). Among these two types, Ribbed Smoked Sheet is the most popular and is available for consumption. There exist different grades of Ribbed Smoked Sheets rubber, namely RSS IX, RSS 1, RSS 2, RSS 3, RSS 4 and RSS 5.

Conventional Grades of Ribbed Smoked Sheets	Used for the manufacturing	Equivalent ISNR (TSR) grades(which could replace conventional grades)
RSS – 1X	Aero tyres	ISNR – 3L
PLC – 1X	Injection bottle caps etc.	ISNR – 3CV
RSS – 1	Tubes (NR)	ISNR – 5
PLC	Food Conveyer Belts etc.	ISNR – 5
RSS – 2	Extruded hoses, Quality Footwear items	ISNR – 10
RSS – 3, RSS – 4	Tyres & Tubes, Tread Carcass, Off road tyres & ADV tyres, Extruded hoses, Footwear	ISNR – 10, ISNR – 20
RSS – 5	Cheap items, hand – made hoses	ISNR – 50
EBC	Cycle tyres, Footwear etc.	ISNR – 50
Technically Specified Crepe Rubber	Medical, Engineering, Retreading, Automobile and Footwear	ISNR – 5 & ISNR – 3

 

 

Though Synthetic Rubber (SR) varieties have become available, demand for Natural Rubber (NR) always remains high. Following are some end products made from Natural Rubber.

 

Tyre Conveyer Belts Rubber Mats Automotive Parts Rubber Intermediate Adhesive Coating Material

Surgical Gloves Condoms Industrial Gloves Baloon Elastic Thread Rubber Foam Coir Foam Carpet Backing Rubber Bands

 

 

RSS1

RSS 1 refers to Ribbed Smoked Sheets, produced from natural rubber latex as ribbed sheets, by coagulation with acids and sheeting, properly air dried and smoked, and visually graded.

Ribbed smoked sheets (RSS) are graded based on visual assessment of quality. The International Rubber Quality and Packing Conference (IRQPC) have specified the grade descriptions, to establish acceptable grades for commercial usage.

 

RSS 3

Ribbed Smoked Sheets (RSS 3) is coagulated from high quality natural rubber latex produced by Thomson Rubbers. Rubber latex processed into ribbed rubber sheets and then sheeted, dried, smoked, and visually graded.

RSS3 rubber sheets are used in the production of Tyres (tires) & Tubes, Tread Carcass, Off road tyres & ADV tyres, Extruded hoses, Footwear etc. Tyre industry is the biggest consumer of RSS3 rubber sheets. The majority of rubber is exported as ribbed smoked sheets (RSS), (over 50%), of which ribbed smoked sheet no.3 ( RSS 3 ) constitutes the major part.

 

ISNR 20

ISNR 20 (TSR 20) is general purpose Rubber graded by precise technical standards and not by visual characteristics. Some standards may vary marginally based on the origin. Technically Specified Rubber (TSR) is used for making tyres, tubes, rubber mats, cushion gum stock, raincoat proofing, micro-cellular sheet for upholstery and packing, conveyor belts, foot wear and various other rubber products.

TSR-20 has excellent processing characteristics and good physical properties. Its low viscosity and easier mixing characteristic (compared with the RSS grades) will reduce the mastication and mixing period considerably.

 

Thomson Rubbers offers ISNR20 (TSR20) rubber with following specifications:

SPECIFICATIONS

SL.NO	CHARACTERISTICS
1	DIRT CONTENT,%BYMASS, MAX	0.2
2	VOLATILE MATTER % BY MASS, MAX	0.8
3	ASH CONTENT % BY MASS,MAX	1.0
4	NITROGEN ,% BY MASS ,MAX	0.6
5	INITIAL PLASTICITY ,P O ,MIN	30
6	PLASTICITY RETENTION INDEX ,PRI, MIN	40

 

 

General Info

Before the early 1960’s rubber was produced in 3 forms – ECB, PLC & Sheet. The actual properties and grade of these were determined visually and was prone to human error. Later, the rubber industry started producing rubber with exactly known properties and specifications. Thus Technically Specified Rubber (TSR) grading system was established. In India , it is called Indian Standard Natural Rubber (ISNR). ISNR (TSR) specification includes 7 grades: ISNR 3CV, ISNR 3L, ISNR 5, ISNR 10, ISNR 15, ISNR 20 (TSR 20) and ISNR 50

ISNR: Indian Standard Natural Rubber

TSR: Technically Specified Rubber

ISNR-20 (TSR20) – Mostly manufactured from shell scrap, tree lace and cup lumps.

 

 

Skim Crepe

Skim Crepe (Skim Block) is a crinkly lace rubber, obtained when coagulated latex or any form of field coagulum (tree lace, shell scrap, earth scrap etc.) is passed several times through heavy rolls called crepers and then air dried at ambient temperatures. They are rapid-curing crepe or granulated (block) rubber containing a higher proportion of non-rubbers than ordinary sheet, crepe or block.

Estate Brown Crepe

Estate Brown Crepe (EBC) is produced in Blanket Form from lump and other high grade natural rubber scrap (field coagulam) generated in rubber estates. Power wash mills are used in milling these grades into a form of thick and thin crepes.

http://www.thomsonrubbers.com/natural_rubber.html