Resin, Rubber & Fiber Manufacturers
Industry Profile Report
Dive Deep into the industry with a 25+ page industry report (pdf format) including the following chapters
Industry Overview Current Conditions, Industry Structure, How Firms Operate, Industry Trends, Credit Underwriting & Risks, and Industry Forecast.
Call Preparation Call Prep Questions, Industry Terms, and Weblinks.
Financial Insights Working Capital, Capital Financing, Business Valuation, and Financial Benchmarks.
Industry Profile Excerpts
Industry Overview
The 1,100 firms in the US manufacture resin and plastic materials, synthetic rubber, artificial and synthetic fibers, and filaments. The industry supplies distributors and a broad range of manufacturers, including producers of apparel, footwear, tires and auto parts, containers and packaging, plastic wrap, paints and coatings, elastic cord, latex gloves, insulative materials, vinyl windows and siding, hoses, and home furnishings.
Dependence on the Manufacturing Sector
The manufacturing sector drives demand for resin, plastic, rubber, and fiber materials.
Consumer Demand for Natural Alternatives
Consumer awareness of the health and environmental impact of synthetic resins, plastics, rubber and fibers is driving demand for safer and biodegradable products.
Industry size & Structure
A typical firm operates out of a single location, employs 88 workers, and generates about $103 million annually.
- The resin, rubber and fiber manufacturing industry consists of about 1,100 companies which employ about 97,000 workers and generate about $113 billion annually.
- Most companies are small, independent operators - about 76% have a single location and 42% employ less than 20 workers.
- The industry is concentrated with the 20 largest firms accounting for 60% of industry revenue.
- Large companies include DuPont, Dow, Firestone Polymers, LyondellBasell, and divisions of petroleum-producing companies like Chevron Phillips Chemical, and ExxonMobil.
Industry Forecast
Resin, Rubber & Fiber Manufacturers Industry Growth
Recent Developments
Feb 21, 2025 - Prices Slip Amid Falling Sales
- Producer prices for resin, rubber, and fiber manufacturers inched up 0.2% in December compared to a year ago after falling 4.6% in the previous December-versus-December annual comparison, according to the latest US Bureau of Labor Statistics data. Employment by the industry fell 1.2% year over year in December, while average wages at chemical manufacturers rose 3.1% in January to a new high of $31.72 per hour, BLS data show. Sales for basic chemicals, resins, and synthetics companies declined 6.6% in the third quarter of 2024 versus a year ago and were unchanged versus Q2, per Census Bureau figures.
- President Trump has signed an executive order banning federal use of plastic straws saying they “don’t work,” the AP reported in February. The EO reverses federal purchasing policies that encourage paper straws and restrict plastic ones and directs federal agencies to stop buying paper straws “and otherwise ensure that paper straws are no longer provided within agency buildings.” Part of Trump’s executive order was aimed at reducing the price of paper straws, which can cost between five to 12 cents per unit compared to less than two cents per unit for plastic straws, according to Clean Water Action. Also, a White House Fact Sheet claims the use of paper straws carry health risks citing a study that found that while PFAS (aka forever chemicals) were found in paper straws, no measurable PFAS were found in plastic ones. Plastic straws are typically made from polypropylene (PP) and polystyrene (PS) plastics.
- The cost of rubber has soared to a 13-year high as extreme weather sharply reduced production in Asia, Reuters reported in November. A series of extreme weather events – including a prolonged drought followed by torrential downpours and a powerful typhoon – in regions that rely on rubber trees for rubber production slammed the industry this year. In September, Typhoon Yagi hit China's Hainan Province damaging almost 40,000 acres of rubber trees in the major source region of Hainan, according to Reuters. That represented about 2.1% of China's total rubber area. Extreme weather “fluctuations can drastically impact the tapping frequency of rubber trees and overall latex production," Farah Miller, the founder of Helixtap, a company that deals with rubber industry data, told Reuters. The price of rubber has risen 23.25% since the beginning of 2024, according to Trading Economics.
- Researchers at Edison Agrosciences are working to develop and commercialize natural rubber made from sunflowers, according to Rubber World. Amid rising demand, the US lacks a domestic source of natural rubber. Moreover, the global supply is currently sourced from a disease-susceptible tree species that’s grown primarily in South and East Asia, which is vulnerable to tropical deforestation. The ample US sunflower crop has the potential to produce over 25,000 tons of natural rubber annually. However, the current concentration of rubber in sunflowers is too low for economical extraction. Edison Agrosciences recently closed on a $600,000 seed financing round to support its efforts to increase rubber concentration in each sunflower plant, thereby improving the per-acre yield. The funding will be used to advance R&D, increase production capabilities for customer product evaluation, and further develop the supply chain infrastructure to bring the technology to market.
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