Market

Every single day, we all rely on natural rubber (NR) in thousands of products because it has properties that can’t be matched with synthetic materials. However, there is no domestic source and the only supply is grown over 10,000 miles away and harvested manually from a tree species already wiped from its native continent by disease. In addition, continued tropical deforestation for rubber plantations is nearly as pervasive as that for palm oil.

The global market for rubber is over $50 billion with demand divided between synthetic and natural rubber. In the United States, rubber is one of the largest imported commodities due to high consumption and no domestic supply. Demand for rubber, both synthetic and natural, continues to grow with economic growth.

While the uses of rubber are diverse and span many market segments, consumption of rubber is dominated by tire manufacturers, which consume approximately 70% of the natural rubber produced. The leading tire manufactures have recognized the market dynamics and the significant risks surrounding rubber production. These companies support the development of new rubber crops and have made investments to advance alternative crop development and source rubber from substitute crops.

The major barriers to increasing natural rubber production sufficiently to meet rising demand are the result of fundamental limitations in the current production system. Commercial natural rubber production employs a single crop species (Hevea brasiliensis, Brazilian rubber tree) with a restricted growth range due to its strict temperature and moisture requirements. Key limitations and vulnerabilities for rubber production in South East Asia include: 

  • susceptibility to disease caused by South American Leaf Blight, a pathogen that eliminated rubber production in Brazil early in the 20th century and remains a global threat today; 
  • long time-frames for crop development through breeding due to low genetic diversity and the extended periods of time (5 years) needed for rubber trees to reach production maturity; and
  • lack of mechanical technologies for rubber harvesting which poses major challenges for this crop; rubber harvesting is entirely dependent on low cost manual labor.
 
 
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