Tireworld Insight: Spring in the air for eucommia application

The industry of eucommia planting and application is expected to get a boost in the near future as its value is getting more widely acknowledged.

The Tireworld has learned that the Development and Research Center of  Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) is actively exploring ways to improve the comprehensive utilization rate of gutta-percha together with partners from other institutions, local governments, and corresponding enterprises.

Eucommia is a rare resource for producing natural rubber that could be found in sub-tropical and temperate areas. Its product, commonly known as gutta-percha, is currently being widely used in fields like chemical, aviation, telecommunication, power transit, water conservancy projects, and even medical sector.

Thanks to its beauty of being cold-resistant and drought-enduring, eucommia is now being planted in some 27 provinces or municipalities across China – from Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region in the south to Jilin province in the north, fromShanghai in the east to Kashgar prefecture in northwest China’s Xinjiang.

At present the planting area of eucommia in China has reached over 4 million mu, or 0.26 million hectares, accounting for more than 95 percent of the world’s total.

Analysts say the vast number of eucommia trees could easily underpin a gigantic green industry conglomerate. Some are confident of forging a green industry cluster that will only take 10 years to grow before it eventually realize an annual output value of 200 billion to 250 billion yuan and provide more than 1 million jobs.

It’s estimated that the gutta-percha output could be as high as 400kg to 600kg every hectare following simple and proper technical upgrades, and then the annual output could amount to some 1.2 million metric tons (tonnes) after expanding the planting area of eucommia to about 3 million hectares.

In this way, the supply deficiency of natural rubber will be easily solved and some 28 billion US dollars will be saved every year for natural rubber imports, based on the import prices at early 2011.

According to data provided by the China Rubber Industry Association (CRIA), China churned out 720,000 tonnes of natural rubber in 2011, which was a record-setting high compared with previous years. But still, the country imported 2.81 million tonnes of natural rubber that year to meet the brisk domestic demand.

At present China’s annual natural rubber consumption has exceeded 3 million tonnes and the figure is expected to top 3.5 million tonnes by 2015.

The huge gap between supply and demand will further stimulate the development of eucommia application, which is to for sure become a most lucrative business for the industry, analysts point out.

(Edited by Olivia, Olivia@tireworld.com.cn)