Outlook 2014: Improved processing to bring more gains

Increased consumption in the wake of stable rubber supply is expected to boost the rubber industry in 2014. The International Rubber Study Group expects global demand to grow annually by 3.8% with China making up for the slack in European economies. China accounts for about 35% of global demand for natural and synthetic rubber, used mainly to make tyres. The IRSG's forecast is based on several economic scenarios and one of them being the International Monetary Fund's (IMF) projections of a 3.3% global economic growth.

Demand for natural rubber is attributed to the upsurge in tyre requirements. According to a report from the Freedonia Group, the world demand for tyres is expected to rise by 4.7% annually through 2015 to 3.3 billion units. In value terms, this is translated to 6.5% annual increase to hit $220 billion. The growing automotive tyre market will account for the increased consumption of rubber through 2015.Stronger gains will be registered by the industrial and other tyres segment that a wide variety of tyres will continue being produced, such as bicycle, motorcycle and off-road tyres.

Factors that could impact the rubber industry in 2014 include the market conditions in Europe and North America which could lead to companies holding back their investments. More favourable factors are in the area of technological innovations which companies in emerging and major sectors continue to undertake in order to help raise production efficiency and product quality.

The scenario for 2014 is very promising for companies providing technological solutions to the rubber industry. The CEO of Maplan GmbH (www.maplan.at), Mr. Wolfgang Meyer, believes that investment backlog in the past has provided impetus for growth in the future as investments into rubber manufacturing has grown and companies turnover has been quite good in various markets as a result of the innovations launched in 2013. "We still have to look at the economic conditions in Europe and North America. We hope that the spending freeze in the U.S. would not adversely affect the robust economy. For other emerging markets, including Asia, we anticipate balanced performance better than during the 2008/2009," according to Mr. Meyer.

Rubber processors and manufacturers of rubber products are also turning to more advanced and highly cost-efficient technologies to improve their processes. "For instance, Maplan has been offering customised solutions that we call ‘Target Engineering', a new control unit with webbased usability, smart automation, as well as tool solutions that we have embarked with our industry partners as project business forward. Besides that advanced solutions for energy savings are more or less a world theme to be competitive as a processor," Mr. Meyer explained.

The Middle East and African markets, while still a small volume markets in terms of demand for rubber products, are growing hubs for rubber applications. As Mr. Meyer puts it: "Some areas in these regions, like South Africa, are needing more and more sophisticated machines to be competitive. We are looking for Iran but still need to assess well the political environment. Hopefully, uncertainties would start to decline in 2014 with healthier economic relations. But more or less, if we look on the Arabic world we have a lot of incalculable situations in the markets."

But driving growth into emerging sectors in the Middle East and Africa for Maplan is its sales and services network. "Strengthening established network is more of an advantage for companies like ours. It is more beneficial to grow with strong established customers in the short term," according to Mr. Meyer.

For 2014, the Maplan expects fully hydraulic and hydro-mechanical units to retain tNike Hypervenom Phantom II FG