Global demand for natural rubber, mostly used in making tyres, is in throes of a big chill. Prices have plunged to a six-year low because of a slowdown in China, the world’s largest buyer of new cars.
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Global demand for natural rubber, used mostly in tyres, is slowing as the economy cools in China, the world’s largest buyer of new cars. Dario Pignatelli / Bloomberg -
Workers are quitting rubber plantations as rubber prices slump toward a six-year low, and earnings now less than the minimum wage. Dario Pignatelli / Bloomberg -
The export price of rubber from Thailand, the top producer, is down 23 per cent. Above, employees coat bundles of smoked rubber sheets with a calcium carbonate solution, used as a resist and to prevent molding, before being packaged for shipment. Dario Pignatelli / Bloomberg -
Employees trim smoked rubber sheets at the Thai Hua Rubber factory in Samnuktong, Rayong province in Thailand. Dario Pignatelli / Bloomberg -
Natural rubber supplies are expanding after a decade-long rally in prices to a record in 2011 encouraged top producers such as Thailand, Indonesia and Vietnam to plant more trees. Dario Pignatelli / Bloomberg -
An employee climbs across racks of rubber sheets drying in the smoke house at the Thai Hua Rubber factory in Thailand. Dario Pignatelli / Bloomberg -
A farmer runs a sheet of rubber through a roller machine at a rubber farm in Thailand. Dario Pignatelli / Bloomberg -
A farmer unloads rubber sheets from a truck in Thailand. Global production is set to exceed demand by 411,000 metric tonnes this year and by 430,000 tonnes in 2017. Dario Pignatelli / Bloomberg -
Rubber sheets are washed at the Thai Hua Rubber factory in Samnuktong, Rayong province in Thailand. Dario Pignatelli / Bloomberg
Supply glut haunts Thailand’s rubber industry – in pictures
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