Global synthetic rubber levels expected to drop

摘要

The expected decline during 2016-2018 will bring the annual average global synthetic rubber (SR) share to the lowest levels since the early 1960s (figure 1). The rubber industry began in the 19th century in the Amazon jungle, but the establishment of plantations in Southeast Asia did not begin until the beginning of the 20th century. Then, the U.S. government developed SR, production of which increased sharply during the Second World War. The 1950s and 1960s saw a period of intense competition between natural rubber (NR) and SR.