Import of Synthetic Rubber down 1.63% in 2014

By Yan Feng

China imported 1.26 million tons of synthetic rubber in 2014 (down 1.63% YoY), including eight varieties of styrene butadiene rubber (SBR), isobutylene-isoprene rubber (IIR), polybutadiene rubber (PBR), nitrile-butadiene rubber (NBR), chloroprene rubber (CR), ethylene propylene rubber (EPR), isoprene rubber (IR), styrene-butadiene copolymer (SBC) – excluding rubber latex. More specifically, SBR imports were down 8.81% YoY to 328 200 tons, or 26.08% of the total; PBR down 11.28% to 206 900 tons, 16.44% of the total; IIR up 6.79% to 268 900 tons, 21.37% of the total; SBC down 12.30% to 37 800 tons, 3.00% of the total; NBR down 6.08% to 74 200 tons, 5.90% of the total; CR down 1.50% to 19 700 tons, 1.57% of the total; EPR up 19.30% to 301 000 tons, 23.92% of the total; IR down 45.73% to 21 600 tons, 1.72% of the total.
Major import sources were the U.S., Korea, Japan, Russia, France, Chinese Taiwan and Singapore, which sent a combined volume of 976 700 tons (down 1.33% YoY) in 2014, accounting for 77.62% of the nation’s total imports.
Korea is the largest source, followed by the U.S., Japan and Russia. In 2014, China imported 284 700 tons of synthetic rubber from Korea (down 7.77% YoY), 22.63% of the total; 210 800 tons (up 4.62%) from the U.S., 16.75% of total; 204 200 tons (down 3.54%) from Japan, 16.23% of the total; 92 100 tons (down 35.77%) from Russia, 7.32% of the total.
Imported synthetic rubber enters China mainly through customs in Qingdao city, Nanjing city, Shanghai city and the Huangpu district of Guangzhou city. Imports for 2014 via these four customs operations totaled 813 400 tons, falling 2.20% YoY and accounting for 64.64% of the total.
Most imports are absorbed by Shandong province, Shanghai city, Jiangsu province and Guangdong province. The volume imported in 2014 by Shandong province fell 15.31% YoY to 291 000 tons (23.13% of the total), while that by Shanghai city went up 9.47% YoY, reaching 207 000 tons (16.45%). Jiangsu province imported 195 400 tons (15.53%), an increase of 14.81% YoY, while Guangdong province saw a decline of 9.09% YoY to 171 100 tons (13.60%).
In conclusion, SBR, PBR, IIR and EPR are the major varieties imported, usually in the mode of general trade or feeding processing trade. Primary sources include Korea, Japan, Chinese Taiwan and the U.S. Consumption of imports is concentrated in southeastern coastal areas like Shanghai city, Guangdong province, Shandong province and Jiangsu province, where industries making tires, autos and shoes are relatively developed. Furthermore, the average import price showed a downward trend.                       

Table 1   China’s synthetic rubber import sources in 2014  (kt)

Variety    Korea    Japan    Russia    China Taiwan    U.S.    France    Singapore
SBR    116.5    42.9    15.1    15.4    27.4    23.8    11.7
PBR    84.3    24.4    8.5    25.6    14.3    6.7    2.3
SBC    3.7    7.2    0.0    14.1    3.7    0.7    0.2
IIR    0.4    24.2    44.5    0.5    69.7    7.7    41.8
CR    0.1    15.1    0.0    0.1    0.0    0.0    0.0
NBR    28.8    18.7    13.1    3.0    1.7    6.6    0.0
IR    0.1    9.4    10.9    0.1    1.0    0.0    0.0
EPR    50.8    62.3    0.0    6.1    93.0    18.1    0.4
Total    284.7    204.2    92.1    64.9    210.8    63.6    56.4


Table 2  Main customs offices admitting imported synthetic rubber in 2014  (kt)

Variety    Qingdao customs    Shanghai customs    Nanjing customs    Huangpu customs
SBR    99.1    47.1    48.8    10.9
PBR    58.4    24.3    31.4    15.5
SBC    1.0    11.0    2.5    9.6
IIR    96.0    56.2    23.7    1.1
CR    2.0    7.4    0.4    3.5
NBR    6.6    25.9    1.5    9.5
IR    3.6    1.7    2.2    2.3
EPR    29.9    137.5    20.5    22.3
Total    296.6    311.1    131.0    74.7


Table 3   Destinations of imported synthetic rubber in 2014  (kt)

Variety    Shandong    Shanghai?    Guangdong    Jiangsu    Zhejiang
SBR    101.7    ?25    36.9    55.2    31.3
PBR    58.7    11.7    41.6    40.4    12.0
SBC    0.3    8.8    20.8    5.3    0.6
IIR    94.8    30.8    10.3    37.4    29.3
CR    2.0    7.4    5.8    0.8    1.4
NBR    4.9    20.6    18.5    5.3    3.8
IR    3.5    1.5    4.5    2.5    0.3
EPR    25.1    101.2    32.7    48.5    35.0
Total    291    207    171.1    195.4    113.7