The World is Facing a Global Rubber Shortage

The World is Facing a Global Rubber Shortage…

However, do not start hoarding tyres yet! But where does this rubber shortage come from?

A tyre consists of many components. One of those components, obviously, is rubber. You knew that probably, but what is rubber and why is it such an important part for the fabrication of tyres? How will this lead to a global shortage? Allow us to elaborate briefly:

So, tyres are (for a large part) made out of rubber. In fact, in tyre-manufacturing we use various types of rubber for different parts of the tyre. The easiest distinction between different rubber compounds is synthetic and natural rubber. Natural rubber provides high elasticity, excellent friction and heat absorption while synthetic rubber provides rigidity, impermeability (prevents puncture) and traction.

Without natural rubber, it is nearly impossible to create a product that can endure the continuous heavy torment a OTR tyre has to cope with. While both types of rubber are equally important for the overall tyre performance, the global shortage in rubber has to do with the natural variant.

How is Rubber Produced?

Natural rubber starts as a fluid produced by rubber trees. Rubber trees predominantly grow in warm and humid regions. That is why most of the worlds rubber production is located in Southeast Asia. Because of natural causes such as leaf disease and flooding, rubber-fluid production has been low. In addition, the past years we were not able to plant many rubber trees due to COVID-19 and due to the low rubber prices of recent years. Rubber tappers had little incentive to plant new trees and it takes up to seven years for a rubber tree to mature. This has led to fast declining supplies worldwide, which brings us to an impending shortage. Add to that a higher demand for tyres around the world, with a lack of shipping containers, and there comes trouble. Mining companies are desperate for tyres, because every hour that one of their machines is idled, due to no available replacements, it represents a major loss of revenue.