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of the bad is that prices are dropping due to a lack of demand, again caused mostly by China’s lockdowns and the shuttering of production lines. China represents 42 per cent of global rubber demand. This demand would take longer to return to stable levels due to the uncertainty in China’s Covid response, which left many areas at the whims of immediate and to- tal lockdowns. The mar-kets do not like volatility or surprise and this has the ef- fect of reducing the cost of both types of rubber. But there are opportunities here for emerging nations to take up some of the de-mand. This is seen in the export of rubber, where countries such as Ivo- ry Coast, Cambodia and Vietnam have all seen their rubber exports grow. Ivory themselves the third largest rubber ex- porter globally. This is bad news for Ma- laysia’s rubber market but as we have almost no domestic tyre production, it the coming months.
So, it’s clear that uncertainty still exists and bold moves are likely to be the thing that sepa-rates the successful from the less successful. However, it is starting users.
31 the tyreman 2022/5
