ANRPC projects dip in global natural rubber demand for 2023
However, consumption in producer countries, particularly China, India, Thailand, set to show substantial growth
Kuala Lumpur - The Association of Natural Rubber Producing Countries (ANRPC) expects to record a year-on-year decline in global demand for natural rubber (NR) in 2023.
Consumption is on track to reach 15.438 million tonnes last year, slightly down on the 15.511 million tonnes reported in 2022, ANRPC said in its latest monthly report - covering 2023 market data to November.
The Kuala Lumpur-based industry body linked the “subdued global outlook” for NR demand primarily to the “underperformance of non-ANRPC members”.
The trend, it said, was partly linked to “prolonged geopolitical tensions, including those between Ukraine and Russia, as well as the Israel-Palestine conflict.”
Demand from non-ANRPC members, said the association, is expected to fall 11.1% year-on-year in 2023, to 4.113 million tonnes.
As a result, non-ANRPC members' proportion of global NR demand is likely to fall below 30%, the lowest share to date.
Additionally, factors such as elevated borrowing costs due to rate hikes have also contributed to the restrained forecast.
The demand share among ANRPC member countries is, meanwhile, on track to surpass 70%, with China, Thailand and India performing particularly well.
China, as a key consumer, has seen demand approach “close to 44% of the global share”, playing an important part in the rubber market.
According to the ANRCP, NR demand from China is likely to grow 3.7% year-on-year to reach 6.722 million tonnes last year.
Also contributing to a generally positive demand scenario are Thailand with 1.0% growth to 1.592 million tonnes and India where consumption is set to grow 5.7% year-on-year to 1.400 million tonnes.
In sharp contrast, however, consumption trends in Malaysia and Sri Lanka are in reverse mode, with projected year-on-year declines of 20% and 24% respectively in 2023.
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