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Uses of rubber -

Rubber may not be the sexiest of materials, but it's important. It has a wide range of uses, and we would have a hard time doing without it.

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Supply at risk -

Unfortunately, it would seem that the global supply of rubber is in jeopardy. Natural rubber, which is recognized as the strongest kind, is extracted from a native Brazilian tree.

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Hevea brasiliensis -

The name of the tree is hevea brasiliensis. It produces a sap, which is extracted from the tree, moulded into sheets, and left to dry in the sun.

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Rubber trees in Brazil -

The hevea brasiliensis is no longer grown in Brazil, after a bought of South American leaf blight killed off the Brazilian rubber industry during the 1930s.

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Rubber trees in Asia and Africa -

Instead, the majority of the world’s rubber trees are grown on tiny smallholder plantations in Thailand, Indonesia, China, and West Africa.

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Rubber smallholders -

According to the Global Platform for Sustainable Natural Rubber, these smallholders produce 85% of the global natural rubber supply, which is around 20 million tons per year.

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South American leaf blight -

The first threat on natural rubber supply comes from the South American leaf blight that wreaked havoc in Brazil nearly a century ago.

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South American leaf blight -

So far, strict quarantine controls have managed to keep the pathogen contained to South America, but it will almost inevitably arrive in Asia at some point in the future.

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Other dangerous pathogens -

At the same time, rubber farmers face a threat from local pathogens, including white root disease and other leaf blights that have made their way over from oil palm plantations.

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Drought and flooding -

Global warming also plays a part–rubber plantations in Thailand have in recent years suffered at the hands of extreme weather conditions, such as drought and flooding.

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Drought and flooding -

As well as destroying plantations, flooding can hasten the spread of disease-causing microbes between rubber growing regions.

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Low prices -

Then there’s the fact that the price of rubber, which is controlled by the Shanghai Futures Exchange, has been kept low in recent years.

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Low prices -

The low prices have discouraged rubber farmers from planting new trees, and many have given up on their plantations entirely, choosing to grow palm oil instead.

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Supply and demand -

All this means that the supply of rubber cannot keep up with demand. The situation was exacerbated even further during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

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Supply and demand -

Towards the end of 2019, the International Tripartite Rubber Council predicted that global supply would fall short by one million tonnes (900,000 tons) in 2020, around 7% of production.

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The impact of COVID-19 -

The reality was much more dramatic: even though demand dropped immediately after the pandemic hit, it soon bounced back in a big way.

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The race to buy a car -

As countries came out of lockdown, huge numbers of people bought new cars so that they wouldn’t have to put themselves at risk by taking public transport.

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Repercussions -

According to the co-founder of rubber buyer Halcyon Agri, "Demand outpaced even the most bullish predictions,” leaving in some places an “acute shortage (of rubber).”

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Shortage of workers -

To make things worse, processing factories were closed during the pandemic and migrant workers have been unable to cross borders to work on the farms, meaning that trees have gone untapped.

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What can be done -

Something must be done if we are to prevent the development of a rubber crisis. Perhaps an obvious solution would simply be to plant more trees.

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Planting more trees -

This was the approach taken in China in 2011 when demand was high. However, planting more trees would require deforestation and would be bad for biodiversity.

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Planting more trees -

Rubber trees also take a long time to grow; farmers would have to wait seven years before being able to tap the trees for their rubber.

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Increasing yield -

So what about squeezing more rubber out of the trees that already exist? According to one professor at Ohio State University, this may be a viable option in Indonesia.

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Increasing yield -

Apparently the yield in Indonesia is relatively low, which shows that crop management is lacking. Adding ethephon to the trees would stimulate the trees to produce more sap.

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Increasing yield -

Some farmers are not keen on ethephon, however, since too much can kill the trees. They may choose instead to forego the Brazilian rubber tree altogether.

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Alternatives -

Researchers taking part in the Program of Excellence in Natural Rubber Alternatives (PENRA) are investigating plants that may offer an alternative.

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Kazakh dandelion -

One option is the taraxacum kok-saghyz, a small, weedy plant that hails from Kazakhstan. It produces less rubber per acre than the hevea brasiliensis, but is ready to harvest in three months.

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Kazakh dandelion -

It also produces a lot of seeds, which means that it is easy to replant and scale up production. A German company has already built a tire with rubber from this plant and claims it is more resistant to wear and tear than traditional rubber.

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Guayule -

Another option is the guayule plant, which grows in the deserts bordering Mexico and the US and produces rubber that is currently used in a wetsuit sold by Patagonia.

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Conclusion -

The race is on to determine which of these options is best suited to meet rubber demand, which will continue to increase, especially as developing countries become wealthier.

Sources: (BBC) (Global Platform for Sustainable Natural Rubber)

See also: Introducing forest bathing: the Japanese answer to stress relief

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