Natural rubber consumption 2015-2021, by country

China consumed the most natural rubber worldwide in 2021, at 5.7 million metric tons. This was followed by India and the United States, who consumed 1.3 million metric tons and 960,000 metric tons of natural rubber that year, respectively. The outbreak of COVID-19 in 2020 caused a decrease in natural rubber consumption in many countries worldwide, but demand rebounded in 2021.

Natural rubber consumption

Natural rubber comes from the Pará rubber tree, or the sharinga tree, commonly referred to as simply the rubber tree. It has many uses due to being highly waterproof, resilient, and stretchy. Accordingly, the global consumption of natural rubber is considerable. In 1990, natural rubber consumption amounted to 5.2 million metric tons, but has increased significantly since then.

Chinese natural rubber consumption

China is by far the largest consumer of natural rubber worldwide. China uses natural rubber for a variety of manufacturing uses, including automobile and tire manufacturing, in particular. Despite China consuming large quantities of natural rubber, its production of natural rubber is far less than countries such as Thailand and Indonesia.