Global and China Synthetic Rubber (BR, SBR, EPR, IIR, NBR, Butadiene, Styrene, Rubber Additive) Industry Report, 2018-2023

China’s Output of Synthetic Rubber Reached 5,787 Kt in 2017, Up 6.0% from a Year Ago Before Climbing To 6,123Kt in 2018, And is Expected to Hit 8,110Kt in 2023, at a Growth Rate of Around 6% During 2018-2023

China’s output of synthetic rubber reached 5,787 kt in 2017, up 6.0% from a year ago before climbing to 6,123kt in 2018, and is expected to hit 8,110kt in 2023, at a growth rate of around 6% during 2018-2023.

In 2018, China boasted a total synthetic rubber capacity of roughly 6,667kt/a, including 130kt/a new effective capacity. It is still very uncertain, however, that the country’s several plants will be put into production as scheduled.

Over the past two years, China’s synthetic rubber market enjoyed steady growth as a pickup in price, among other factors, prompted some synthetic rubber plants to resume production after being out of operation for some years. China’s output of synthetic rubber reached 5,787,000 tons in 2017, up 6.0% from the previous year before climbing to 6,123,000 tons in 2018, and is expected to hit 8,110,000 tons in 2023, at a growth rate of around 6% during 2018-2023.

Styrene butadiene rubber (SBR) and butadiene rubber (BR) are the two most common synthetic rubbers in China, with a capacity accounting for 32.1% and 25.8% respectively of the country’s total synthetic rubber capacity in 2018. With the largest output among main synthetic rubbers, SBR and BR seized a combined 32.4% share of China’s total synthetic rubber output in 2017. But their production growth slowed down noticeably, while special rubber products like ethylene propylene rubber (EPR) and nitrile butadiene rubber (NBR) began to boom, especially the EPR, the fastest grower, whose output jumped by 29.5% to 202,600 tons in 2018.

In 2018, China’s import and export of main synthetic rubbers dropped at different rates: for example, BR imports and exports fell by 27.1% and 8.5% respectively in the first eleven months of 2018 to 181,600 tons and 31,400 tons. Slowing downstream demand was a factor in the decline; another cause was the escalating trade tensions between China and America from March 2018: almost all of China’s products in the synthetic rubber industry chain were on the list of America’s tariffs on USD200 billion of Chinese goods. Although both countries had agreed to suspend tariff increase in late 2018, it still hurt China’s imports and exports of synthetic rubber products.

Moreover, Chinese producers tried hard and invested heavily to develop new products in recent years, making some breakthroughs. Examples include PetroChina’s successful commissioning of self-developed high-strength SBR, SSBR2060 in its Dushanzi Refinery in July 2018; PetroChina Jilin Petrochemical Research Institute’s accomplishment of an optimization test of self-developed high-strength SBR, SBR1566 in November 2018 and its successful development of a new ethylene propylene rubber (EPR), X-0150 in the same month.

Global and China Synthetic Rubber Industry Report, 2018-2023 highlights the following:

• Global synthetic rubber market (supply and demand, product mix, regional pattern, development trends, etc.);
  
• China synthetic rubber market (supply and demand, import and export, product mix, regional pattern, enterprise pattern, development trends, etc.);
  
• China synthetic rubber market segments (BR, SBR, IIR, EPR and NBR) (supply and demand, import and export, enterprise pattern, etc.);
  
• China synthetic rubber (butadiene, styrene and rubber additive) raw materials market;
  
• Global and Chinese synthetic rubber downstream sector (tire);
  
• 21 key Chinese synthetic rubber companies (operation, development strategy, etc.)
  

- The Chinese Version of this Report is Available on Request.