Art, obsession, and identity
The hevea brasiliensis is no longer grown in Brazil, after a bought of South American leaf blight killed off the Brazilian rubber industry during the 1930s.
The name of the tree is hevea brasiliensis. It produces a sap, which is extracted from the tree, moulded into sheets, and left to dry in the sun.
According to the Global Platform for Sustainable Natural Rubber, these smallholders produce 85% of the global natural rubber supply, which is around 20 million tons per year.
Instead, the majority of the world’s rubber trees are grown on tiny smallholder plantations in Thailand, Indonesia, China, and West Africa.
Rubber may not be the sexiest of materials, but it's important. It has a wide range of uses, and we would have a hard time doing without it.
Unfortunately, it would seem that the global supply of rubber is in jeopardy. Natural rubber, which is recognized as the strongest kind, is extracted from a native Brazilian tree.
So far, strict quarantine controls have managed to keep the pathogen contained to South America, but it will almost inevitably arrive in Asia at some point in the future.
At the same time, rubber farmers face a threat from local pathogens, including white root disease and other leaf blights that have made their way over from oil palm plantations.
The first threat on natural rubber supply comes from the South American leaf blight that wreaked havoc in Brazil nearly a century ago.
Global warming also plays a part–rubber plantations in Thailand have in recent years suffered at the hands of extreme weather conditions, such as drought and flooding.
As well as destroying plantations, flooding can hasten the spread of disease-causing microbes between rubber growing regions.
Then there’s the fact that the price of rubber, which is controlled by the Shanghai Futures Exchange, has been kept low in recent years.
The low prices have discouraged rubber farmers from planting new trees, and many have given up on their plantations entirely, choosing to grow palm oil instead.
All this means that the supply of rubber cannot keep up with demand. The situation was exacerbated even further during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Towards the end of 2019, the International Tripartite Rubber Council predicted that global supply would fall short by one million tonnes (900,000 tons) in 2020, around 7% of production.
The reality was much more dramatic: even though demand dropped immediately after the pandemic hit, it soon bounced back in a big way.
As countries came out of lockdown, huge numbers of people bought new cars so that they wouldn’t have to put themselves at risk by taking public transport.
According to the co-founder of rubber buyer Halcyon Agri, "Demand outpaced even the most bullish predictions,” leaving in some places an “acute shortage (of rubber).”
To make things worse, processing factories were closed during the pandemic and migrant workers have been unable to cross borders to work on the farms, meaning that trees have gone untapped.
Something must be done if we are to prevent the development of a rubber crisis. Perhaps an obvious solution would simply be to plant more trees.
Apparently the yield in Indonesia is relatively low, which shows that crop management is lacking. Adding ethephon to the trees would stimulate the trees to produce more sap.
This was the approach taken in China in 2011 when demand was high. However, planting more trees would require deforestation and would be bad for biodiversity.
Rubber trees also take a long time to grow; farmers would have to wait seven years before being able to tap the trees for their rubber.
Some farmers are not keen on ethephon, however, since too much can kill the trees. They may choose instead to forego the Brazilian rubber tree altogether.
So what about squeezing more rubber out of the trees that already exist? According to one professor at Ohio State University, this may be a viable option in Indonesia.
Researchers taking part in the Program of Excellence in Natural Rubber Alternatives (PENRA) are investigating plants that may offer an alternative.
Another option is the guayule plant, which grows in the deserts bordering Mexico and the US and produces rubber that is currently used in a wetsuit sold by Patagonia.
The race is on to determine which of these options is best suited to meet rubber demand, which will continue to increase, especially as developing countries become wealthier.
Sources: (BBC) (Global Platform for Sustainable Natural Rubber)
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It also produces a lot of seeds, which means that it is easy to replant and scale up production. A German company has already built a tire with rubber from this plant and claims it is more resistant to wear and tear than traditional rubber.
One option is the taraxacum kok-saghyz, a small, weedy plant that hails from Kazakhstan. It produces less rubber per acre than the hevea brasiliensis, but is ready to harvest in three months.
The importance of rubber to our daily lives is difficult to overstate. We use it in car tires, shoe soles, and many other objects that are too numerous to list. Unfortunately, it seems that the supply of natural rubber is in danger due to low prices and diseases that blight the trees.
Check out this gallery for an introduction to the rubber shortage and find out what can be done about it.
The race to save our dwindling rubber supplies
This crucial resource might not be available in the near future
LIFESTYLE Plant
The importance of rubber to our daily lives is difficult to overstate. We use it in car tires, shoe soles, and many other objects that are too numerous to list. Unfortunately, it seems that the supply of natural rubber is in danger due to low prices and diseases that blight the trees.
Check out this gallery for an introduction to the rubber shortage and find out what can be done about it.