Metallurgy / Chemicals / Rubber & Plastics

As an important industrial raw material, rubber is mainly produced in Southeast Asia. The world's largest rubber producing countries are Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia, which account for 70% of the world's rubber production. Among them, Thailand is the largest rubber producer and exporter among the three major producing countries.

According to the latest news on August 15, in the first half of this year, Thailand exported about 2.19 million tons of rubber, earning 70.5 billion baht (about 2 billion US dollars) in foreign exchange, making it the world's largest exporter of rubber. Under such a good development trend, the Rubber Authority of Thailand predicts that Thailand's rubber output is expected to reach 4.79 million tons this year.

One of the uses of rubber is tire production, so the demand for tire manufacturing and the automotive industry has an impact on rubber to a certain extent. With China's economic growth, the automobile industry continues to develop, and the market demand for rubber continues to increase. So far, China has become the world's largest rubber consumer.

Relevant data shows that in the first six months of this year alone, China has imported 1.42 million tons of rubber and synthetic rubber from Thailand, a year-on-year increase of 5.37%. Rubber and rubber products exported to China account for half of Thailand's merchandise exports, and China has become Thailand's largest export market for rubber and rubber products.

As one of the three major rubber producing countries, Malaysia, due to the continuous reduction of the natural rubber planting area in the country, the output and export volume of rubber is also decreasing, so it also relies on the rubber exported from Thailand to a certain extent. The United States, Japan and South Korea are closely followed by Malaysia.

Similarly, with the increasing demand for tires in the US, Japan and South Korea's auto industry, these countries have no way to produce their own rubber and mostly rely on imports. 90% of the world's rubber is in Southeast Asia. As the largest rubber producer in Southeast Asia, this has undoubtedly driven Thailand's rubber exports.