Demand is weak and environmental protection is becoming stricter, and Thai rubber products are facing comprehensive challenges

Thailand's Ministry of Commerce trade policy and strategic office director Phuphon recently revealed that Thailand, as the world's largest rubber producer, 2022 rubber production reached 4.8 million tons, accounting for 33% of the global rubber production, but also ranked after China, the world's second largest exporter of rubber products. However, at present, Thai rubber products are facing comprehensive challenges, whether it is the world's polarization geopolitical issues, or the world's increasing attention to self-sufficiency, such as the United States has made significant progress in the development of natural rubber in alternative cultivation, the development of products with no protein allergy characteristics, used for the production of medical gloves, condoms, and can be planted in arid salt alkaline areas. Its remarkable feature is to extract rubber from butadiene, with hot water as a solvent, so it will not pollute the environment.

In terms of the environment, the sustainable production of rubber is a major global trend, in which producers must be socially and environmentally responsible, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, protect natural resources, and safeguard the welfare of workers and communities, so sustainable rubber production is increasingly important as consumers turn to environmentally friendly products. For example, the world's major rubber producers have a policy of purchasing rubber directly from rubber plantations, and the purchased wood is wood and products certified by forest management organizations with the FSC logo to prove that it comes from well-managed forests and sustainably grown wood. Including the Forest deforestation Certification Process organization PEFC to provide assessments to ensure the adoption of the national Forest certification system, in which Thailand has developed a national standard system for the sustainable economic development management of forest parks and a standard system for the forest product Control chain, whose standards are equivalent to the PEFC standards.

In addition, the trend of recycled rubber use is also growing, through reuse to convert it into new products, reducing waste and resource-intensive natural rubber production, because the production of rubber needs to consume a lot of water to clean, if not properly treated, the resulting wastewater will have a negative impact on society and the environment. Many companies have developed recycled rubber products, such as Nike using recycled rubber in its shoe soles and Bridgestone using recycled rubber to develop tires.

The EU Product Free from Deforestation Regulation (EUDR), which came into force on 29 June 2023, covers seven categories of products including rubber and agricultural products, including palm, cattle, soybeans, coffee, cocoa, wood and rubber, with a transition period of 18 months (until 30 December 2024). Before companies comply with the EUDR, partner countries will be assessed on three levels, namely high risk, standard risk and low risk, which will affect the rigor of the inspection of goods. Initially, all countries will be classified as standard risk by 30 December 2024, and the list of high - and low-risk countries will be published by 30 December 2024.

Thai rubber products are facing challenges from various factors and must accelerate development to improve competitiveness by creating added value along the entire commodity value chain, starting with sustainable rubber park management, establishing traceability system in accordance with international standards, developing rubber products with higher value, focusing on research and innovation, said Phupong. Make full use of technology and research results to process rubber into a variety of products including building materials, houses, construction, home and medical supplies.

In terms of marketing, it is necessary to actively carry out marketing, conduct market research focusing on the specific needs of each market, collect and analyze consumer demand data to identify opportunities and challenges. In addition to Thailand's existing major export markets China, the United States, Malaysia and Japan, attention should also be paid to emerging markets such as Middle Eastern countries, India, Africa and Latin America.

In 2022, Thailand's exports of rubber and products were worth 217.7 billion US dollars, with the top five major exporting countries being China 314,727 million US dollars, Thailand 18.8 billion 24 million US dollars, Germany 17.4 billion 59 million US dollars, the United States 14.6 billion 56 million US dollars, and Japan 10.7 billion 12 million US dollars.