New Regulations on Necessary Materials for Tire Industry Takes Effect

China Natural Rubber Association and China Synthetic Rubber Industry Association jointly released the Self-discipline Regulation on General Technologies of Compound Rubber.

The regulation took effect as from Aug. 18, 2016.

According to the regulation, the ratio of natural rubber to synthetic rubber in compound rubber is 1:1, and the definition, requests, inspection and packaging have also been specified.

Compound rubber is defined as a mixture with no less than 50% synthetic rubber evenly blending with no less than 50% natural rubber, and the nitrogen content should not excess 0.30% nor less than 0.15%.

An industry insider said with regard to the legal status of the new regulation, its power is limited. The targets of the announcement are two associations, while the sources of compound rubber are from foreign countries.

The key for the effectiveness of the regulation depends on whether the customs will take it as reference in the process of customs clearance.

The market has been focusing on the issue, while no real affects have been detected.

When the government released the national standards for natural rubber and synthetic rubber, the standard “88% original rubber content” affected the imports significantly. The tax-free import access of tire manufacturers and other relevant downstream companies’ was been blocked.

The import volume of compound rubber under customs code 40028000 surged thereafter.

The product has been c categorized by the customs as synthetic rubber, while actually it becomes an access for natural rubber import.

In the first half of 2016, China’s import of such rubber totaled 789,400 tons, while the import in the same period of 2015 was only 63,400 tons, mainly from Thailand, Vietnam and Malaysia.