Whilst we have manmade or synthetic rubber produced from petroleum, around one-quarter of the world's rubber comes from a natural source. Natural rubber is a vital agricultural product or commodity which is used in the manufacture of a wide range of products. Rubber plays a major role in the socio-economic fabric of many developing countries. Over 20 million families are dependent on rubber cultivation for their basic source of livelihood.
Natural Rubber is an elastic substance obtained from the latex sap of trees, especially those trees which belong to the genera Hevea and Ficus. Technically speaking, natural rubber is an elastomer or an elastic hydrocarbon polymer.
Natural rubber is one of the types of rubber that also include vulcanized rubber which is finished into a variety of rubber products. Natural rubber is also known by the names of India rubber, gum elastic, and caoutchouc.
Natural rubber is used extensively in many applications and products, either alone or in combination with other materials. In most of its useful forms, it has a large stretch ratio and high resilience and also is water-proof.
The natural rubber industry has developed during the last 100 years, inspite of emergence of manmade rubber. The development of the industry has relied upon well-targeted research and development in various fields like agronomic science, breeding to raise productivity, and physics, chemistry and technology to support and expand a growing plethora of applications. You can also check Rubber Industry Overview for detailed information of rubber industry.
Products made from natural rubber, like tyres, engineering components and latex products which are used in the battle against AIDS and other disease are very essential to modern life. Natural rubber is available in many grades. However, the most important distinction is that between latex and solid grades. Latex is the liquid which comes out of the tree. Solid grades are produced from latex which has coagulated either in a factory or in the field. The natural rubber latex products are wide and varied like gloves, balloons, tubes, condoms etc.
Natural rubber has certain unique properties such as follows:
It is seen in recent years that there has been a shift in the rubber consumption patterns from North America and Western Europe to southern and eastern Asia. The major natural rubber producers (Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia) have also become major rubber consumers. There is also the potential for Eastern European countries to increase its uptake of natural rubber. India, China and Brazil consume all of the natural rubber produced within their countries. Thailand is considered to be the world's largest producer of NR, followed by Indonesia, Malaysia, India, China, Vietnam, Sri Lanka and a number of other countries. These countries lie within a band lying from 5° to 15° north or south of the equator and hence suitable for NR production. As per a report published in 2001, the world produces around 6.5 million tonnes of NR each year.