1、THAILAND INDUSTRY OUTLOOK 2021-23NATURAL RUBBER PROCESSINGApril 2021Chaiwat S+662 296 2000 Ext.508801Krungsri ResearchOverviewThe Thai rubber supply chain has three main components.(i)Upstream industries involve the growing and harvesting of rubber on plantations by growers and tappers,but to add va

2、lue to primary production,some producers engage in basic processing of their field latex to produce dried rubber products,such as cup lump,scraps,raw sheet and crepe rubber1/.Almost all upstream production in Thailand is consumed as inputs into domestic midstream industries.(ii)Intermediate or midst

3、ream industries,or rubber processors,take rubber produced on plantations2/and convert this into semi-finished products,such as ribbed smoked sheet(RSS),technically specified rubber(TSR),concentrated latex,compound rubber and skim rubber,which variously have the qualities and properties required as i

4、nputs to downstream production.(iii)Downstream producers include manufacturers of items such as automobile tires,latex gloves,condoms,elastics,and so on.Meanwhile,synthetic rubber,which has been developed by the petrochemical sector3/,may be used in place of natural rubber in applications where its

5、qualities make it more suitable.The lions share of Thai-produced intermediate rubber goods is sold on overseas markets for processing into downstream products(as of 2020,86.7%of Thai intermediate goods were sold abroad).The most important export markets are China(36.6%of all exports of Thai intermed

6、iate goods,by value),Malaysia(22.6%),the United States(6.5%),Japan(5.7%)and South Korea(3.4%).The remaining 13.3%of midstream production is consumed domestically.The most important end-use is for the production of tires(48.9%of domestic demand for intermediate rubber products),followed by elastics(1