Natural rubber consumption 2015-2020, by country

China consumed the most natural rubber worldwide in 2020, at 4.7 million metric tons. This was followed by India and the United States, who consumed one million metric tons and 807,000 metric tons of natural rubber that year, respectively. The outbreak of COVID-19 in 2020 reduced the consumption of natural rubber in many countries worldwide. Of the leading natural rubber consumers shown, only Malaysia experienced an increase in consumption in 2020.

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, and in 2018 it reached a peak of 13.8 million metric tons.

Chinese natural rubber consumption: the world's largest consumer

China is by far the largest consumer of natural rubber worldwide, consuming a peak of 5.5 million metric tons in 2019. 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.