The European Tyre & Rubber Manufacturers’ Association (ETRMA) is committed to ensuring the availability and accessibility of raw materials for the operation of the European tyre and rubber industries.
As part of this commitment, ETRMA contributed to the process of revision of the Critical Raw Material List of the European Union (EU) and welcomed the information that natural rubber was included in the 2017 list.
The 2017 criticality assessment was carried out for 61 candidate materials (58 individual materials and 3 material groups for a total of 78 materials).
Natural rubber was the only biotic raw material to be included in the 27 raw materials that passed the assessment.
According to the list, the EU’s main importers of natural rubber from 2010 to 2014 were Indonesia (32%), Malaysia (20%), Thailand (17%), and Ivory Coast (12%).
“This is an important step for our sector. Natural rubber will receive proper political attention and consequent support when dealing with issues related to the supply of natural rubber” said Fazilet Cinaralp, Secretary General of ETRMA.
The new Critical Raw Material List was adopted by the College of Commissioners on 13 September and communicated as part of the EU industrial strategy on 18 September as an essential element “to help ensure the secure, sustainable and affordable supply for the EU manufacturing industry”.
“Indeed, it is our hope that the inclusion of natural rubber on the list will strengthen the competitiveness of the rubber industry, stimulate the production of natural rubber also beyond traditional producing countries, increase awareness of potential raw material supply risks and support the efforts of European Commission when negotiating trade agreements, in order to challenge potential trade distortion measures,”Cinaralp said.
Following is the 2017 Critical Raw Material List, which will be valid for three years:
- Antimony
- Baryte
- Beryllium
- Bismuth
- Borate
- Cobalt
- Coking coal
- Fluorspar
- Gallium
- Germanium
- Hafnium
- Helium
- Indium
- Magnesium
- Natural graphite
- Natural rubber
- Niobium
- Phosphate rock
- Phosphorus
- Scandium
- Silicon metal
- Tantalum
- Tungsten
- Vanadium
- Platinum group metals
- Heavy rare earth elements
- Light rare earth elements