Synthetic rubber materials on downward track

London – Global synthetic rubbers* continued on a downward track amid declining demand and bearish feedstocks, as per the data compiled for ERJ.

All key synthetic rubbers, including EPDM rubber, SBR, NBR, PBR, halo butyl rubber, and others have observed consistent drop in prices during the last two weeks of August 2022, according to by ChemAnalyst's latest figures.

Ample inventory availability, weak consumer sentiment and rising cost of production "plagued" the construction industry of both US and China, said a ChemAnalyst's report.

At the same time, the European construction industry witnessed subdued consumption throughout the second and third quarters, when it has traditionally been peak demand season.

Meanwhile, the performance of the European automotive industry remained underwhelming, marred by production cuts and soft consumer sentiment.

Feedstock prices have declined sharply in the last two months, and the impact on downstream value chains has been noticeably visible, thus resulting in a decline in the cost of production.

Styrene monomer prices have fallen sharply while olefins continue to deteriorate further in the third quarter, globally.

Meanwhile, butadiene prices have dipped in Asia and North America while stability has been observed in Europe.

*Synthetic rubber prices compiled exclusively for ERJ:

EPDM medium diene FOB Rotterdam, The Netherlands

Halobutyl rubber BIIS CFR, Hamburg, Germany

Styrene butadiene rubber 1502 FD Wuppertal, Germany

Nitrile butadiene rubber 18-40% CFR, Hamburg, Germany

Polybutadiene rubber FOB, Hamburg, Germany.