Rubber industry worldwide - statistics & facts
Rubber is an elastic polymer known to be used as a thermoset elastomer once it has been strengthened by vulcanization. Rubber is a hugely important commodity worldwide, used in thousands of everyday items. In 2020, the outbreak of the coronavirus (COVID-19) impacted the industry significantly, with global rubber production decreasing five percent year-on-year to 27.4 million metric tons before recovering in 2021 and 2022 to reach a global production value of 29.6 million metric tons in 2022. Despite these disruptions, the global synthetic rubber market size was estimated to have been 23 billion U.S. dollars in 2022 and is forecast to grow to 28.9 billion U.S. dollars by 2027.
Synthetic rubber refers to any artificial elastomer, which is mainly polymers synthesized from byproducts of the petroleum refining process. There are approximately 20 different chemical types of synthetic rubber, with different grades of rubber in each of those chemical categories. As of 2022, synthetic rubber production accounted for 51 percent of the global rubber supply.
Types of rubber
There are two main types of rubber – natural and synthetic. Natural rubber (also referred to as caoutchouc and India rubber) is produced from latex derived from rubber trees. Although the rubber tree is native to South America, the Americas only account for 2.7 percent of global natural rubber production. In comparison, natural rubber production in Asia totaled 11.5 million metric tons in 2020, accounting for 90 percent of global production. Thailand produces more than four million metric tons of natural rubber per year, making it the world’s largest producer of natural rubber.Synthetic rubber refers to any artificial elastomer, which is mainly polymers synthesized from byproducts of the petroleum refining process. There are approximately 20 different chemical types of synthetic rubber, with different grades of rubber in each of those chemical categories. As of 2022, synthetic rubber production accounted for 51 percent of the global rubber supply.
