According to several German media sources, the price of Continental tyres will increase in the second half of this year. Wolfgang Schäfer, chief financial officer at Continental, indicates that tyre prices will go up by between three and five per cent in order to compensate for higher natural rubber costs.
Acting in concert with Ivory Coast-based company SIFCA, Michelin has opened a simplified cash public tender offer through its 99.99 per cent-owned subsidiary Compagnie Financière Michelin SCmA (CFM) to acquire the 841,285 shares in natural rubber company Société Internationale de Plantations d’Hévéas (SIPH) not currently held by the two parties. Michelin states that it and SIFCA will pay 85 euros for each share in the West Africa-based rubber producer and marketer.
Global demand for natural rubber (NR) is expected to outstrip supply this year, however the body representing 11 key producing countries cautions that strong demand doesn’t guarantee that the good prices seen earlier this year will be realised. Information published in June by the Association of Natural Rubber Producing Countries (ANRPC) shows that NR prices across key physical markets suffered further losses from the last week of May, despite a continued deficit in world supply.
Global demand for natural rubber (NR) is expected to outstrip supply this year, however the body representing 11 key producing countries cautions that strong demand doesn’t guarantee that the prices seen of late will be maintained.
General Motors has committed itself to sourcing original equipment tyres produced from sustainable natural rubber. The vehicle manufacturer views this step as an industry first and says its aim is to help “drive the industry toward net-zero deforestation and uphold human and labour rights.”
The Rubber Authority of Thailand, together with the country’s Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives, has unveiled its own tyre brand – TH-Tyre. The two bodies hope that sales of TH-Tyre products will stimulate the use of natural rubber grown and tapped in Thailand. The tyres, which debuted on in the Thai market last month, are manufactured by local manufacturer Deestone Co.,Ltd.
Global rubber output is expected to climb to 12.9 million tons in 2017 up from last year’s 12.4 million tons, the International Rubber Study Group (IRSG) said.
A 50 hectare rubber plantation and processing plant will be established on the Philippines island of Mindanao at a reported investment cost of US$200 million, and Finnish firm Black Donuts Engineering Inc. will serve as a consultant for coordinating the project.
The leading Taiwanese tyre manufactures are reportedly planning to raise prices by between 8-12 per cent during 2017. According to local news reports, the price hike is a reaction to the jump in synthetic rubber and natural rubber prices.
Open access scientific journal eLife has published the result of joint research into Hevea brasiliensis rubber particles conducted by Sumitomo Rubber Industries and the Graduate School of Engineering at Japan’s Tohoku University. In addition to their publication in eLife, the results were also presented at the International Rubber Conference (IRC 2016 Kitakyushu) in Japan on 26 October.
Toyo Tire & Rubber Co., Ltd. is participating in the Sustainable Natural Rubber Initiative (SNR-i), an effort put forward by the International Rubber Study Group (IRSG) to ensure the sustainability of natural rubber as a resource.
The Association of Natural Rubber Producing Countries (ANRPC) reports that although the rubber yielding area in the countries it represents has considerably expanded this year (until the end of May 2016), this is unlikely to impact on rubber supplies as the average yield per hectare is declining. Furthermore, the ANRPC anticipates that demand for natural rubber will remain weak due to prevailing global economic uncertainties, including the threat of further US anti-dumping and countervailing duties, a measure likely to affect demand from China.
White root rot disease is a type of filamentous fungi that affects hevea brasiliensis, or rubber trees, infecting the roots and causing the tree to whither. At present it can only be identified by visual inspection, and detection rates are low. In response to this problem, Bridgestone has been cooperating with other parties to develop technologies that offer a prompter diagnosis, and the tyre maker now reports it has established a “groundbreaking technique” that can be used to “easily, quickly, and accurately diagnose white root rot disease.”
Around three and a half years ago, Bridgestone Corporation announced plans to develop the guayule plant into a commercially viable alternative to traditional sources of natural rubber. The company produced its first guayule-sourced natural rubber samples a year ago, and today shares it has reached another milestone on the path to guayule commercialisation – Bridgestone says it has produced passenger car tyres whose natural rubber content is 100 per cent sourced from the desert shrub.
The Asian Latex Conference 2015 and India Rubber Summit & Dinner 2015, which were held between 10 – 12 September 2015, were hosted at the Crowne Plaza, Kochi, by Rubber Asia. The awards in recognition of outstanding contributions to different segments of the rubber industry were presented at a ceremony during the India Rubber Summit and Dinner 2015.
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