Meyer: Connecting the industry's puzzle pieces

I know I've said this before. I've covered the tire and rubber industries a long time. It will be 35 years at the end of February, and things sure have evolved during that time—particularly when you consider how connected the pieces of the global industry really are.

When I first joined the publication formerly known as Rubber & Plastics News, Japan's Bridgestone Corp. was making its first bid to buy Firestone.

Now I grew up just outside of Akron. My dad worked at General Tire, Long Mile and Goodyear during his career, while my uncle was an engineer at Firestone. And Bridgestone wasn't a name on my radar.

Now, however, all is connected in a giant supply chain that spans from materials to end products, and in more and more cases, a sustainable future where everything continues in a circular cycle.

Nothing has demonstrated how connected the world is—and our industry in particular—more than Russia's unprovoked attack on Ukraine. Knotted supply chains have led to material shortages. In Europe, the war has led to an energy crisis, where in some cases it has been better business to shutter facilities temporarily in light of spiking energy costs.

The synthetic rubber trade is a business that has been intrinsically involved in the supply chain disruptions caused by the war in Ukraine. I do not need to look further than three SR producers I covered in-depth in 2022.

Officials from Russia's Sibur said it was becoming more difficult to export its synthetic rubber to Europe.

Matteo Marchisio, director of tire materials and the synthetic rubber business unit for Synthos S.A., told Rubber News his firm was looking to support those European firms that didn't want to utilize Russian materials.

And Kho Irani, Lion Elastomer's president and CEO for the past year, has told me his company has been a stable force in the U.S. and will continue to be in the future.

These three SR firms were extremely connected as the International Trade Commission heard arguments on a petition from Lion that Synthos and Sibur were among firms from the Czech Republic and Russia that had unfairly undercut prices with exports of emulsion SBR in the U.S.

The ITC ruled late in the year against Lion, saying that the exports hadn't caused economic injury to U.S. producers.

With that being said, I hope you enjoy our third-annual version of The Book, where you can mull over many of the other pieces that make up our industry puzzle. We at Rubber News value everything you do to support our efforts—whether you're a subscriber of our digital and print offerings, an advertiser, an attendee or exhibitor at our events, or a source for stories.

We're looking forward to what 2023 will bring, re-connecting with old contacts and making many new ones as well. Then we can gather again here at the end of 2023, and see how the year shook out, and how 2024 is shaping up.

Meyer is editor of Rubber News. Reach him at [email protected].