Rubber & tire industry in numbers

PROJECTS

Hankook Tire is on track with a €1.6bn project to increase production capacity for passenger car and light truck (PC/LT) and truck & bus radial tires at its US plant in Clarksville, Tennessee – doubling PC/LT capacity to 10m units/yr and adding produce 1m units/yr TBR production by end of 2026.

Canadian tire recycling specialist Klean Industries has signed an MoU with Viva Energy Australia to build a tire pyrolysis facility in Melbourne, Australia, with capacity to process up to 80ktpa of waste tires into rCB, steel and pyrolysis oil.

Rubber chemicals maker China Sunsine Chemical Holdings expects to complete a 30ktpa expansion project for insoluble sulphur production in Shanxian, Shandong, by mid-2025. The Yuan300m (€40m) project involves the construction of a production line for intermediate product MBT and expansion of insoluble sulphur capacity at the Hengshun site.

M&A & RESTRUCTURING

Yokohama Rubber Co. is "considering the acquisition of Euro Tire Manufacturing in Romania," to increase off-the-road (OTR) tire production capacity in Europe.  Bucharest-based Euro Tire Manufacturing SRL filed for insolvency in May 2018, amid hopes of rescue options, including via merger or acquisition. It produced OTR radial tires at its facility in Drobeta Turnu Severin, Romania, and bias play tires in Dniepropetrovsk, Ukraine and supplied Continental Tire under an off-take agreement.

Eneos Materials Corp. is studying the suspension of production of synthetic resins at its Jushi plant in Japan, due to a wider group restructuring of refinery operations. The facility, operated by Eneos Materials Crop. subsidiary Nippon Gosei Jushi Co. has the capacity to produce 18ktpa of 'neopolymers' and 2ktpa of neoresins – an alicyclic/ aromatic type hydrocarbon resin used in tire treads and rubber compounds. Neopolymers, are aromatic petroleum resins used in a wide range of fields, including as rubber tackifiers.

American Tire Distributors has completed the sale of substantially all of its assets to a buyer entity formed by certain of its existing lenders. The newly formed company will take over immediately “under the ownership of well-capitalised investors dedicated to achieving long-term success.” 

MARKETS

Sri Lanka's export earnings from 'rubber and rubber finished products' decreased by 8.2 % y-o-y to US$75.06 Mn in January 2025, the Sri Lanka Export Development Board reported. Exports of 'pneumatic & retreated rubber tyres & tubes' fell 33.7%, including a 31.7% dip in shipments to the US.

BUSINESS

Munich, Germany-based Wacker Chemie AG expects to see growth across all its divisions in 2025, including a significant increase in volumes within its silicones business. The silicones unit increased its sales 2% year-on-year in 2024, to €2.81bn, while earnings grew 47% to €347m.

French automotive and heavy-vehicle parts maker Akwel reported 2024 sales of €989m, a 7.3% decline compared to 2023. This included a sharp downturn in H2/24, when revenue fell 13.5% year-on-year to €231.2m. In France, sales fell 19.1% to €247.6m and by 3.3% in Europe (excluding France) and Africa to €292.7m, while N America saw a 2.9% drop to €287.4m. Asia and the Middle East (including Turkey) posted growth of just under 1% to €158.4m, but S America sales fell 36.1% to €3.0m.

For 2024, Bekaert’s ‘rubber reinforcement’ division reported lower third party sales (-9.5%) as a result of lower volumes (-2.2%) and lower passed-on material and energy costs in sales prices (-6.1%).

Indian tire maker Ceat has set up a Sri Lanka subsidiary – Ceat OHT Lanka (Private) Ltd – with a capital of LKR150m (€470k) to expand its off-road activities in the country.

SHARE PRICES

Leading tire manufacturers’ share-price trends

Leading rubber product manufacturers’ share-price trends

MATERIALS

Natural rubber

After a 3.5% year-on-year increase last year, the Association of Natural Rubber Producing Countries (ANRPC) forecast global natural rubber production to reach 14.897m tonnes this year – up by just 0.3% on the 2024 level. In terms of NR consumption, the association anticipates a year-on-year rise of 1.8% to 15.625m tonnes. This includes a projected 110% growth in demand to 122kt by Cambodia, now a major destination for new tire projects. China and India, the world's top two NR consumers with 46% and 10% of total market share, expect demand to increase demand by 2.5% and 3.4% respectively to 7.163m tonnes and 1.5m tonnes.

Natural rubber futures registered a general decline on Far East exchanges for a third consecutive week, Japan Exchange Group (JPX) reported 17 March.  During the trading week ending 14 March, NR pricing was impacted by ‘concerns over a global recession, weaker equity markets, and uncertainties surrounding US tariffs,” reported JPX. Uncertainties surrounding the Trump administration's tariffs weighed on trader sentiment, added the report issued 17 March. "Trading volumes fell across all exchanges as market uncertainty kept traders on the sidelines," commented the Tokyo-based market-watcher.

JPX: Selected rubber futures price trends on major trading exchanges

 (ERJ calculation for selected futures)

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