13 Mar 2020
Production to grow by 2.7% year-on-year to 14.17 million tonnes in 2020, according to ANRPC
Kuala Lumpur - The Association of Natural Rubber Producing Countries (ANRPC) has revised down its global production and consumption figures for natural rubber (NR) in 2020 after a sharp decline in demand in the first two months of the year.
The association said it now expected NR production to grow by 2.7% year-on-year to 14.17 million tonnes in 2020, compared to a previous estimate of 14.28 million tonnes announced in its annual market report 31 Jan.
While the first two months of the year have witnessed a 5.2% drop in production, the global output is anticipated to grow due to an expected expansion of total mature area within ANRPC member states.
The ANRPC also lowered its estimates for the global consumption of NR, now expecting demand to rise 1.2% to 13.82 in 2020, compared to the original estimates of 2.7%-growth.
While the signing of the US-China trade deals in mid-January renewed hopes for demand from China, the outbreak of coronavirus clouded expectations for the full year.
“The world consumption fell by 18.6% year-over-year during the first two months of 2020 as China’s manufacturing has been severely disrupted following the outbreak of Covid-19 epidemic,” said the ANRPC in a 9 March market update.
The association also expects the world consumption outlook for 2020 to be further revised down in view of the Covid-19-related anticipated global economic slump.
Further coverage of the latest trends and developments in the natural rubber market in the March/April issue of European Rubber Journal magazine
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