Sumitomo Rubber Industries has established a natural rubber procurement subsidiary in Singapore, the world’s largest natural rubber trading hub.
Until now the natural rubber division of the company’s sales subsidiary in Singapore, Sumitomo Rubber Asia, has handled procurement of natural rubber for Sumitomo Rubber Group.
The new subsidiary, Sumitomo Rubber Singapore, will begin operations in April. Its main focus will be to develop a stable supply of natural rubber for the group, but it will also monitor and assess advancements in the material and its supply chain.
In order to address issues in the supply chain, in 2018 Sumitomo Rubber Group founded the Global Platform for Sustainable Natural Rubber (GPSNR) along with several other partners.
The company recently determined that, in order to reliably procure high-quality natural rubber, there was a strong need for a procurement system spearheaded by a locally situated organization. Sumitomo Rubber Singapore will handle both procurement activities as well as being a leader on the GPSNR initiative.
In spite of rising global consumption of natural rubber in recent years, output is anticipated to decline in the major natural rubber production centers in Asia in the near future. As such, there is a growing need for a global approach to natural rubber procurement.
At the same time, when it comes to securing a stable supply of high-quality natural rubber, the business environment is currently undergoing a series of major changes that pose various challenges, as mergers and market withdrawals within the natural rubber industry create greater risks of monopolies, price fluctuations and other potential issues in various markets.
Issues including human rights abuse and deforestation are also coming under sharper scrutiny.
Interested in hearing more from Sumitomo? Dr Shinya Nakano, assistant manager, Sumitomo Rubber Industries Ltd will present ‘Physical and chemical analysis for Controlling Aging Reaction Technology‘ as part of Stream 2 – The Changing Science of Rubber Compounding, at the Tire Technology Expo Conference, on Tuesday 25 February. Click here to book your pass (early booking discount ends Friday 31 January).
