Market Research Global Environmental Change

Question: Discuss about the Market Researchfor Global Environmental Change. Answer: Introduction Drivers for Rubber Trees Demand Rubber trees are in demand since from the past decades. However, the global demands of the trees are creating a threat to the protected forests of the different parts of the world. The drivers for the demand of the rubber trees include the end users and their effect on the demand of the rubber trees. End users: The end users of the rubber trees are the ordinary people of the world. Apart from that, the tire industries are proven to be the massive users of rubber trees worldwide. Global consumption of rubber trees is found to be increasing day by day. The rising demand for rubber trees leads to the growth of the tire industry across the world. The automobile industry is growing day by day that result in an increase in tire industry across the world (Vongkhamheng et al., 2016). The effect in markets: With the growth of tire industries, the tropical rain forests of the countries of Africa, South America, and other countries are cleared that creates a harmful impact on the environment. It is predicted that in the year of 2024, 8.5 million hectares of new plantations of rubber trees will be required to meet the estimated demand of the rubber worldwide. However, it will lead to a catastrophic impact on environment and wildlife. Worldwide Demand for Rubber Trees The demand of global rubber trees will be increasing in China. It is because of the rise of the automobile industry in the country. The automobile market of China is the worlds biggest automobile market in the world. It is responsible for showing growth of 8 to 10% in 2014. Hence, the automobile industry is the most consumed industry of rubber (Demand for rubber 'threatens forests' - BBC News, 2016). Global demand for rubber products for the industrial purpose rose by 4.3 percent in 2014. It amounted to $97.8 billion. However, mechanical rubber goods are constituted to be the most consumed product in the rubber industry. Areas of United States, Canada, Japan, Western Europe, etc. are found to be users of mechanical rubber (World Rubber Demand Slowdown to Weigh on Prices Through 2020 - Bloomberg, 2016). Canada and Australia are found to be the most intensive industrial rubber users of the world. Apart from those countries of South East Asia such as India, Malaysia, Thailand, and Indonesia have witnessed much growth in sales of rubber. The demand is increased due to the increase of global consumption in many parts of the world. The rubber industry depends on automobile and tire industry. The countries of South and Central America along with Eastern Europe and Mid-east Africa are witnessing to grow severely in the rubber market. Current Prices The demand for natural rubber in the year of 2016 is less in China. The consumption of rubber by the end users of the product weakens in China. The cost is decreased in the industry for the buyers of rubbers. The tire industry traded rubber as the rate of $1.427 per kilogram in Singapore. In the year 2011, $5.75 price was charged for a kilogram of rubber. It has been decreased to the above price (Il'in et al., 2015). Future prediction in the case of the price of rubber will be in between $1.50 -$1.60 in the year of 2020. The price of the rubber will range in the average of $2.54 in 10 years. Globally, countries are facing a shortage of rubbers. It has faced a deficit of 449,000 tons in the year of 2016. This is the reason of decrease in price by 5.5% in the year of 2015. The inflation of rubber market in China is the cause of decrease of price of rubber globally. The tire market giants like Goodyear Tire Rubber Company faces cutting in costs by the export and import of rubber from many countries such as Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia (Zhai et al., 2014). Demand Forecast for Next 50 Years The demand for rubber is assumed to increase regarding industrial and mechanical rubber products in many countries of the world. Consumption of rubber by the end users is finding to increase by 51,000 tons of surplus in the year of 2016. The global consumption is forecasted to be increased by 12.75 tons in the coming years. However, in the year of 2015, it is seen that the rubber consumption is 12.32 tons (World Rubber Demand Slowdown to Weigh on Prices Through 2020 - Bloomberg, 2016). The demand for rubber highly depends on the Chinese market. China is assumed to use 5 million tons of rubber in the year 2016. In the year 2014, China consumed 4.78 million tons of rubber. Global motor companies and automobile industries highly depend on rubber industry. It is the reason for the growth of demand of rubber in the world (Drabble, 2015). The Asia Pacific Market is considered as the largest market for rubber. It accounts up to 60% of the rubber demand globally. Among the Asian market of rubber, China holds the first position. It also accounts for the one third of global demands of rubber in the year of 2012. It is forecasted that China will occupy the first position up to the year of 2020 (Ahrends et al., 2015). Demand Breakdown by Region The fastest gain of rubber production is exhibited by the Asia Pacific region. China represents the national market of rubber regarding motor vehicles tires. It is the largest tire market on a global basis. Markets of South America and Central Europe are forecasted to grow in the year of 2020. Non-tire products are found to arise in the Asia Pacific region (Demand for rubber 'threatens forests' - BBC News, 2016). Approximately 80% of the total global non-tire products came from China. The outlook of world rubber industry for the next ten years is forecasted to increase by 4.4% in the year of 2015. The demand of synthetic rubber by 2023 will increase up to 22 million. South Africa will be witnessing a phenomenal growth of 9% by 2020. Ghana will export a large volume of rubber by 2020. It will amount to $250 million. The growth of rubber in the Mid-African and South African countries will soon match the level of the Asia Pacific markets if rubber (Rubber products industry outlook strong despite low NR prices, 2016). References Ahrends, A., Hollingsworth, P. M., Ziegler, A. D., Fox, J. M., Chen, H., Su, Y., Xu, J. (2015). Current trends of rubber plantation expansion may threaten biodiversity and livelihoods.Global Environmental Change,34, 48-58. Demand for rubber 'threatens forests' - BBC News. (2016).BBC News. Retrieved 12 September 2016, from https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-32350985 Drabble, J. H. (2015). Rubber in Malaya 1876-1922: the genesis of the industry. Il'in, V. M., Rezova, A. K. (2015). Styrene butadiene rubber: production worldwide.International Polymer Science and Technology,42(10), T35. Rubber products industry outlook strong despite low NR prices. (2016).Dailymirror.lk. Retrieved 12 September 2016, from https://www.dailymirror.lk/51610/rubber-products-industry-outlook-strong-despite-low-nr-prices Vongkhamheng, C., Zhou, J., Beckline, M., Phimmachanh, S. (2016). Socioeconomic and Ecological Impact Analysis of Rubber Cultivation in Southeast Asia.Open Access Library Journal,3(01), 1. World Rubber Demand Slowdown to Weigh on Prices Through 2020 - Bloomberg. (2016).Bloomberg.com. Retrieved 12 September 2016, from https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-03-23/world-rubber-demand-slowdown-seen-weighing-on-price-through-2020. Zhai, D. L., Xu, J. C., Dai, Z. C., Cannon, C. H., Grumbine, R. E. (2014). Increasing tree cover while losing diverse natural forests in tropical Hainan, China.Regional Environmental Change,14(2), 611-621.