VITRY-SUR-SEINE, France—Prices for rubber materials have continued on an upward path since the beginning of the year, according to data recently issues by the SNCP (Syndicat National du Caoutchouc et des Polymeres).
January saw a continuation of hikes in prices for both natural and synthetic rubber materials, reported the French rubber industry association.
The synthetic rubber market, in part, reflected butadiene prices, which were up 38 percent year-on-year in the early part of 2022—in-line with trends in the crude oil market.
This included rises of: 35 percent for styrene-butadiene rubber (SBR); 60 percent for EPDM; 57 percent for nitrile rubber; and 28 percent for chloroprene rubber. Carbon black (N>300) prices, likewise, rose 38 percent.
In the natural rubber market, SNCP's tracker for RSS3 grade showed a year-on-year recovery in prices to trade at $1.98/kg (181.88 centimes/kg) in January.
The RSS3 price trend represented a marked gain on the first month of COVID-hit 2021 when prices were heading to the $1.63/kg mark—though, still well down on the prices of over $2.17/kg seen a year before.
