According to the statistics of Waste Rubber Comprehensive Utilization Branch of China Rubber Industry Association, in the first seven months of this year, for 38 key member enterprises, the realized profit had a year-on-year growth of 14.96%; meanwhile, the inventory of reclaimed rubber enterprises had a year-on-year growth of 83.22%; influenced by macro environment, the price of waste rubber decreased by nearly half, and the operation of the acquisition industry was at a low ebb. These were the information obtained by the journalist on the National Waste Rubber Utilization Information and Technical Exchange Seminar held on September 25.
Cao Qingxin, secretary general of Waste Rubber Comprehensive Utilization Branch, told the journalist that there were two reasons for the growth of industry profit: firstly, the purchasing price of waste rubber declined this year, resulting in the decline of purchase cost of reclaimed rubber; secondly, the quality of reclaimed rubber products improved and had a good price. Influenced by the macro environment that the price of natural rubber was relatively low in recent years, the price of waste rubber and scrap tire decreased by half since the second half year of 2013, the original price was 1800 Yuan per ton and the current price was below 1000 Yuan per ton, and the purchasing price in Qingdao, Shandong was 950~980 Yuan per ton. However, this also caused the waste rubber acquisition industry to be gloomy, in Qingdao, 2/3 employees had quit the recycling industry and the rest struggled to maintain their operation.
According to Luo Yaping, general manager of Guangdong Huizhou Runtai Rubber & Plastic Company, since the nation severely punished the act of “lawless oil refining” with waste rubber and scrap tire, now the scrapped passenger car tires in Guandong became unwanted, even the scrapped truck tires were recycled by no local people but people from Shandong and Hebei, and the recycling price fell disastrously to be less than One Thousand Yuan per ton.
“Influenced by macro environment, the price of rubber chemicals is also impacted, for good activating agents, the original price is 18000 Yuan/Ton and the current price is 13000~15000 Yuan/Ton; for general activating agents, the price falls down to 11000~13000 Yuan/Ton.” Song Tongyin, president of Anhui Jinma Rubber Chemicals Co., Ltd., thought, “it is mainly caused by the fierce market competition. On one hand, the market demand is too small, the function and consumption of activating agents are just like that of yeast in dough leavening, one ton of reclaimed rubber only requires 1~2 kg of activating agents; on the other hand, new competitors continuously participate.”
It is known that in last June, after the CCTV reported the fact that the processing of waste rubber polluted the environment in Yutian County, Hebei Province, the local government took measures of power cut and shutdown on the enterprises involved in the report. Lately, three reclaimed rubber enterprises in Tianjin, Jida Company, Tianyu Company and Dongchang Company were also enforced to shut down. “Although many production enterprises suspend production for rectification, the output of reclaimed rubber is not reduced.” Cao Qingxin said. The statistics of Waste Rubber Comprehensive Utilization Branch showed that in the first seven months, the output of reclaimed rubber had a year-on-year growth of 3.18%, and the output of rubber powder had a year-on-year growth of 38.77%; the inventory of reclaimed rubber reached 0.148 Billion Yuan, with a year-on-year growth of 83.22%.
“The rising of inventory means that the alternative consumption amount of reclaimed rubber is decreasing, which is caused by the fact that the natural rubber is in low price and the development of downstream enterprises slows down at present, meanwhile, in consideration of fund recovery, the production enterprises of reclaimed rubber prefer to increase inventory rather than increase the receivables. The reclaimed rubber industry shall pay high attention to the natural rubber industry as well as the tendency of rubber utilization customers like tire, rubber belt, rubber shoes, etc.” Cao Qingxin reminded the enterprises in this industry.
However, several enterprises saw opportunities. On the sidelines, Luo Yaping had a discussion with Dong Chengchun, senior expert in this industry and Liu Zengyuan, consultant of expert group of Waste Rubber Comprehensive Utilization Branch on relevant technical problems of processing rubber powder with passenger car tire. “The scrapped passenger car tire sells only Three or Four Hundred Yuan per ton, which is 1/3 of that of truck tire. The waste resources shall be fully utilized, which can not only reduce the black pollution, but also lower the cost.” Luo Yaping told the journalist.
It is known that in 2013, the output of reclaimed rubber in China was 3.8 Million Ton, with a year-on-year growth of 8.57%; the output of rubber powder was 0.5 Million Ton, with a year-on-year growth of 25%. It is predicted that in 2014, the output of reclaimed rubber will reach 4.1 Million Ton and the output of rubber powder will reach 0.55 Million Ton.