TY  - BOOK
AU  - Cain M E
TI  - The consumption and production of natural rubber
PB  - IRRDB Symposium on Natural Rubber(Hevea brasiliensis) V.1- General, Soils and Fertilization and Breeding and Selection Sessions. Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, 14-15 October 1997, p1-9
KW  - Natural rubber consumption
KW  - Natural rubber production
N2  - Recent analyses suggest that some 40;of natural rubber is consumed by the one heavy commercial vehicle (HCV) tyre application. This in itself has important implications for both the demand for and the price of natural rubber, a subject currently being investigated by the International Rubber Study Group. As the other major applications are mainly in latex goods manufacture and anti-vibration applications in mechanical and civil engineering, natural rubber may almost be classed as a speciality rather than a general-purpose elastomer. Thus demand for natural rubber is driven by the demand for tyres, which is in turn driven by the vehicle industry. The demand for vehicles depends on two factors: population growth and the inevitable progress towards greater economic development. The consumer society generates the demand for HCV tyres to facilitate the movement of goods. It seems unlikely that the current pattern of ever-increasing demand for vehicles and tyres will change substantially in the short to medium term, and the prospect is therefore for continued growth in demand for both natural and synthetic rubber. This growth will, of cource, be linked to world economic cycles
ER  -