SINGAPORE (May 25, 2012)—In a revelation which may cause some economists to adjust their models, China's CRIA said the country will consume about 3.5 million metric tons of recycled rubber in 2012.
This figure represents more than 10 percent of the total global rubber consumption, and compares with China's consumption of 6.9 million tons of virgin rubber in 2011. This is made up of 3.2 million tons of natural rubber and 3.7 million tons of synthetic rubber.
In 2012 this is likely to increase to 3.4 million tons of NR and 4 million tons of synthetic.
The announcement was made by Mary Xu, deputy secretary-general of the China Rubber Industry Association at the World Rubber Summit.
She said China consumed 3 million tons of recycled rubber in 2011, which represents about 81 percent of recycled rubber consumed in the world.