Rubber & tire industry in numbers

PROJECTS

Bridgestone Corp. and Tokai Carbon Co. have joined forces to advance the processing technology for recovered carbon black (rCB) derived from end-of-life tires (ELTs): launching a programme in partnership with Kyushu University and Okayama University to develop a technology to perform “secondary processing” on tire-derived rCB.

Bridgestone plans to build a pilot pyrolysis plant for the recovery of end-of-life tires at its rubber hose manufacturing plant in Seki City, Gifu. Construction work on the facility will start in November with completion set for September 2027. Once completed, the unit will have capacity to process 7.5ktpa of ELTs into pyrolysis oil and recovered carbon black (rCB).

Wacker Chemie AG has started up two new production facilities for specialty silicones, in Tsukuba, Japan and Jincheon, South Korea. The expansions will meet growing demand from the automotive and construction industries in Asia, said Wacker's 23 Jan announcement, which put the overall investment in the “double-digit-million Euro" range.

Taiwanese synthetic rubber supplier TSRC is considering the construction of a solution styrene butadiene rubber (SSBR) plant in Nantong, China. The project involves a 60 kilotonne per annum (ktpa) SSBR production line in the northeastern Chinese city.

German chemicals supplier Wevo-Chemie GmbH has expanded its production capacity to meet growing demand for silicone-based gels, adhesives, gap fillers and potting compounds. The move, said the company based at Ostfildern, near Stuttgart, is to support the electronic and electrotechnical industry.

M&A and RESTRUCTURING

Bergamo, Italy-based rubber parts maker Argomm Group and sealing solutions specialist Gapi Group have announced a merger plan. The merged entity will have a consolidated turnover of €220m and employ 1,745 people at 20 production sites and 5 logistics centres, across 11 countries.

French rubber moulding machinery specialist REP has sold its shares in United Rubber & Plastic Machinery (URP) to LWB Steinl, its partner in the Chinese JV. URP was formed under an ‘Asian alliance’ between the companies to provide European machinery to the local Chinese market and increase the competitiveness of both companies.

Hyosung Advanced Materials Corp. is reviewing “various strategic plans, including a potential sale, of its steel tire cord business, valued at KRW1.5 trillion (€1bn).

Bridgestone Americas is to close its truck and bus radial tire plant in LaVergne, Tennessee effective 31 July, the company has announced. The decision is part of the company’s strategic initiatives to optimise its business footprint and strengthen its competitiveness. Around 700 ‘hourly and staff teammates’ will be impacted. Bridgestone also signalled cutbacks to plant-capacity and jobs at its Des Moines, Iowa agriculture tire plant, as well as at operations in Argentina and Brazil.

Jiangsu General Technology Co. (General Science) has announced that its controlling shareholder, Hongdou Group has agreed to transfer 24.41% of its shares to Guangzhou Industrial Investment Holding Group Co., the parent group of Chinese tire maker Wanli Tire. The move, it noted, could potentially lead to a change in control of the company. Hongdou Group currently holds 657,320,290 shares, representing 41.35% of the company's total equity, and together with affiliated parties holds 43.81%. Under the intent agreement, Guangzhou Industrial or its designated entity will acquire 24.41% of General Science shares to become the controlling shareholder.

Evonik has officially merged its silica and silanes business line to create a new business entity called ‘Smart effects’ under a group restructuring plan. The new unit employs 3,500 people worldwide and will be organised under Evonik’s recently created "Advanced Technologies" segment.

BUSINESS

Trelleborg AB has reported 2024 earnings (EBITDA) of SEK6.1bn (€532m) – up from SEK6.0bn in 2023 – on sales of SEK34.1bn, versus a prior-year SEK34.2bn. Q4 earnings rose 11.4% yoy to SEK1.6billion on sales up 4.3% to SEK8.7bn. Q4 sales were “the highest ever for a single quarter,” while operating profit and margin were “the highest to date for a fourth quarter.” At Trelleborg Industrial Solutions (TIS), earnings rose 3% yoy to SEK2.4bn, with sales flat at SEK15.3bn, while Trelleborg Medical Solutions (TMS) posted a 16% increase in sales to SEK3bn and earnings up 38% to SEK529m, helped by acquisitions. At Trelleborg Sealing Solutions (TSS) full-year sales rose 1% to SEK16.6bn but earnings fell 2% to SEK3.4bn.

Hexpol AB posted adjusted EBITDA down 10.5% yoy to SEK3.4bn (€296m) on sales 7.3% lower at SEK22.0bn – reflecting a SEK95m exchange-rate impact, partially offset by a 1% gain from its acquisitions of Star Thermoplastics and Piedmont. Full-year sales at the group's Compounding business area fell 8% yoy to SEK19bn. At Hexpol Engineered Products, sales increased 3% during to SEK1.5bn. Group sales increased in Asia by 5% yoy, while in 'America', revenue dropped 10%. In Europe, the rubber compounds group reported a 5% yoy sales decline in 2024.

Cefic reported that the EU27 chemicals industry has a global market share of 13% in 2023, down from 28% in 2003. The European industry employed over 1.2 m people, reported sales of €655bn and made €10.2bn in R&I investments in 2023. Petchems & specialities accounted for over 50% of EU chemicals sales in 2023, with synthetic rubber contributing 1%. At around 75%, capacity utilisation remained “well below” historical average of 81%. China’s average production growth was 6.7% per annum over the 10 years to end of 2023, compared to minus 0.8% in the EU27. Chemicals industry capex across the EU27 reached €32bn in 2023, versus €125bn and €42bn in China and Rest of Asia respectively.

Kuraray’s elastomers business unit is raising prices for a range of elastomer materials for the fourth time in less than a year. Effective 1 Feb, the price hike of $0.33/kg covers all of Kuraray’s Septon, Hybrar and TU-Polymer elastomers.

MARKETS

China’s pneumatic tire exports increased 5.6% year-on-year in 2024 to exceed Yuan164bn reported the General Administration of Customs of China. In terms of volume, total rubber tire exports reached 9.32 million tonnes last year, a year-on-year increase of 5.2%. New pneumatic tires accounted for a major bulk of the exports, at 8.99m tonnes, up 4.9% compared to the year before. Value-wise, new-tire exports saw a 5.5% increase to Yuan158bn.

SHARE PRICES

Leading tire manufacturers’ share-price trends

Leading rubber product manufacturers’ share-price trends

MATERIALS

Global demand for natural rubber in 2024 is anticipated to rise by 1.8% compared to the previous year, according to the latest estimates from the ANRPC. Total NR consumption is expected to reach 15.448 million tonnes for 2024, up from 15.173 million tonnes in 2023. Chinese demand represented nearly 46% of the total market-share, with the country forecast to see a 3.3% yoy increase in consumption to reach an estimated 7.216m tonnes for 2024. Global NR output is expected to increase 2.8% yoy to 14.291m tonnes, compared to 13.908m tonnes in the previous year.

Natural rubber futures closed the trading week ended 24 Jan mixed amid “uncertain trading direction,” according to JPX. In Osaka, Japan, the June-2025 rubber contract fell 0.75% week-on-week in quiet trading. In Shanghai, China, the SHFE and INE rubber futures posted declines of 1.5% and 1.4%, respectively, due to “long liquidation and light speculative selling,” reported JPX 27 Jan. In Singapore, SICOM’s active April-2025 rubber contract rose 2.1% on the previous week on consumer and speculative buying interest.

Selected rubber futures price trends on major trading exchanges

(ERJ calculation for selected futures)

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