Natural Rubber Security

Natural rubber remains irreplaceable for aircraft and heavy-vehicle tires, yet output is tightly concentrated in Thailand, Indonesia and Vietnam where trees are aging and smallholders are abandoning tapping for more profitable crops. Pestalotiopsis leaf-fall disease has cut yields across the region, while the EU Deforestation Regulation forces traceability requirements onto millions of smallholders. Prices swing on weather, disease and inventory, and no synthetic substitute matches natural rubber for high-stress applications.

WHAT CHANGED · LAST 72H

• —Pestalotiopsis leaf-fall disease persists across Indonesian and Thai plantations, suppressing yields
• —EU Deforestation Regulation compliance deadline forces traceability onto smallholder supply chains
• —Prices elevated as aging trees and labor shortages cap production growth