Import and export trade

In 2000, the import volume of rubber continued to increase considerably from 1.08 million tons to 1.562 million tons, a 44 per cent increase on the previous year. Foreign exchange used for imports increased by 49 per cent, from US$0.88 billion the previous year to US$1.306 billion. Of the total, the import volume of synthetic rubber increased by 8.9 per cent, from 650,000 tons in 1999 to 710,000 tons in 2000, and the foreign exchange used grew by 20 per cent, from US$602 million to US$722 million. Import volume, of IIR, NBR and EPR all increased by over 30 per cent.

In 2000, the export volume of synthetic rubber was 64,000 tons, 8 per cent of the total output and an increase of 41.8 per cent on the previous year. Of this, BR accounted for 36,700 tons, SBR 14,800 tons and others 7,900 tons, all significant increases on 1999.

In 2000, synthetic rubbers were mainly imported from Taiwan, Japan, Korea and Russia; these constituting 77 per cent of the total.

The pattern of import trade changed considerably in 2000. The processing trade based on imported materials or on materials provided by customers still dominated, accounting for 54 per cent of the total trade; general trade volume surged from 89,000 tons in 1998 and 202,000 tons in 1999 up to 242,000 tons in 2000, a 20 per cent increase on the previous year and making up 34 per cent of the total import volume.

Table 6.15.5: Forecast demand for main synthetic rubbers in China (thousand tons)

	2000		2005		2010		2015
	Demand	%	Demand	%	Demand	%	Demand	%
SBR	386 “420	42.0	494 “560	41.5	586 “734	41.0	889 “932	40.0
BR	277 “290	29.0	340 “385	28.5	400 “500	28.0	610 “641	27.5
IIR	60 “65	6.5 83 “95	7.0	107 “134	7.5	77 “186	8.0
EPR	55 “60	6.0	77 “88	6.5	93 “116	6.5	155 “163	7.0
CR	55 “60	6.0	65 “74	5.5	2 “90	5.0	100 “105	4.5
NBR	46 “50	5.0	60 “68	5.0	79 “98	5.5	133 “140	6.0
SBR latex	51 “50	5.5	71-81	6.0	93 “116	6.5	155 “161	7.0
Total	930 “1000	100	1190 “1351	100	1430 “1 788	100	2119 “2 328	00

Table 6.15.6: Import and export of synthetic rubber in 2000 (tons)

	Import volume				Export volume
Product	1999	2000	00/99 (%)	1999	2000	00/99 (%)
SBR and carboxylated SBR	140,322	126,166	10.1	13,896	14,835	6.8
BR	49,324	52,464	6.4	12,226	36,706	72.9
IIR [*]	30,120	39,286	30.5	212	1,037	389.1
CR	19,388	18,807	3.0	134	624	365.7
NBR	25,894	34,531	33.4	55	121	120.0
IR	11,266	18,105	60.7
EPR	15,884	22,869	44.0	1,790	1,101	38.5
SBS		29,484
Synthetic latex	109,149	132,828	21.7	1,100	1,551	41.0
Other synthetic rubber	246,659	228,981	7.2	6,740	7,908	17.3
Total of synthetic rubber and latex [**]	647,988	703,521	8.6	45,153	63,883	41.5
[*] Including halogenated butyl rubber; [**] Import and export including no-primary rubber.

Table 6.15.7: Main import sources

Origins	Volume (thousand tons)	Proportion (%)	Value (US$ million)	Proportion (%)
Taiwan	204.5	28.8	72.70	23.9
Korea	152.9	21.5	120.84	16.7
Japan	120.3	16.9	168.50	23.3
Russia	72.5	10.2	58.91	8.2
USA	41.2	5.8	62.27	8.6
Others	119.1	16.8	38.60	19.3
Total	710.5	100	721.82	100

Table 6.15.8: Import pattern of synthetic rubber, 2000

	Import volume (kt)		Proportion (%)
	1999	2000	1999	2000
Total	652.2	710.5	100	100
Imports for processing purpose	274.3	276.2	42.1	38.9
General trade	202.2	242.3	31.0	34.1
Imports of customers' material for processing purpose	100.2	108.0	15.4	15.2
Small volume border trade	57.9	61.4	8.9	8.6
Goods in bonded warehouse [*]	17.3	22.6	2.7	3.0
Others	0.2
[*] Including transhipping in bonded zones

Currently 35 customs agencies are in charge of the declaration of the rubber import business in China. The import volumes and corresponding proportions in 2000 from different provinces are listed below. Synthetic rubber was mainly imported from Guangzhou, Fujian and Shanghai, the import volume accounting for up to 71 per cent of the total.