The tire industry is undergoing a restructuring of its production capacity, with green technologies and investment booms occurring simultaneously.
- Market Dynamics
Driven by new speculative buying, major global rubber futures markets rose across the board in the week ending January 23rd. The benchmark contract in Singapore reached a nine-month high, and the number of open contracts across exchanges increased, indicating the establishment of long positions. Meanwhile, the rubber futures forward curve shifted from flat to upward sloping, and the market structure returned to a positive trend. The Singapore Exchange announced an extension of its night trading session starting January 26th, further optimizing market liquidity.
Data from the European Chemical Industry Council (CEFIC) shows that since 2022, European chemical plants have cumulatively shut down 37 million tons of capacity, accounting for approximately 9% of total European capacity. This has directly resulted in the loss of 20,000 jobs, with another 89,000 indirect jobs facing uncertainty. Currently, new investment in the European rubber industry has declined significantly, and the scale of capacity closures far exceeds new investment, indicating an overall contraction of the industry. Officials are calling for emergency policies to address the situation.
The Malaysian Rubber Glove Manufacturers Association proposed that technological innovation and high-value-added products are central to industry revitalization. They emphasized the need to address risks through industrial upgrading, regional integration, and value optimization to create a regional advanced rubber technology hub.
The European Commission has requested import registration for passenger car tires imported from China, clarifying that under certain conditions, countervailing duties may be retroactively imposed on registered products in accordance with applicable laws. The European Commission stated that it is currently unable to make a specific ruling on the level of subsidies.
- Industry Data
According to publicly available data, Thailand's total exports of natural rubber (excluding compounded rubber) reached 2.669 million tons in 2025, a year-on-year decrease of 5.3%. Broken down by category, standard rubber exports totaled 1.478 million tons, a decrease of 16%; smoked sheet rubber exports totaled 438,000 tons, an increase of 24%; and latex exports totaled 735,000 tons, an increase of 8%.
- New Products and Technologies
Nokian Tyres officially launched the Betula concept tire, which is the first to utilize renewable materials extracted from birch bark by Swedish company Reselo. The tire tread contains up to 93% renewable and recycled materials, laying a crucial foundation for Nokian Tyres to achieve its goal of 50% renewable and recycled materials in its tires by 2030.
British startup HiiROC and Tokyo Gas have signed a memorandum of understanding to explore the application of thermal plasma electrolysis technology in the production of hydrogen and sustainable carbon black. This technology can decompose hydrocarbons under low energy consumption conditions without producing carbon dioxide emissions, and its by-products can be directly used in carbon black production. The collaboration aims to support customers' decarbonization goals and simultaneously assess the commercialization potential of the technology.
