Rubber Product Manufacturers
Industry Profile Report
Dive Deep into the industry with a 25+ page industry report (pdf format) including the following chapters
Industry Overview Industry Structure, How Firms Opertate, Industry Trends, Credit Underwriting & Risks, and Industry Forecast.
Call Preparation Quarterly Insight, Call Prep Questions, Industry Terms, and Weblinks.
Financial Insights Working Capital, Capital Financing, Business Valuation, and Financial Benchmarks.
Industry Profile Excerpts
Industry Overview
The 1,300 rubber product manufacturers in the US process natural, synthetic and reclaimed rubber materials into a wide range of rubber products. Products include tires and inner tubes, hoses and belts, fuel bladders, rubber bands and erasers, balloons, haircare products, pacifiers and baby bottle components, floor and car mats, inflatable mattresses and pools, latex foam rubber, roofing membranes, sheathing, and rubber components for machinery.
Regulation and Safety
The industry is highly regulated due to the chemical mixtures and processes used to manufacture rubber products.
Varying Raw Material Costs
Manufacturers face significant fluctuations in the price of synthetic rubber from year to year.
Industry size & Structure
A typical tire manufacturer employs about 604 workers and generates about $250 million annually. A typical tire retreading manufacturer employs 23 workers and generates $6 million annually. A typical hose and belt manufacturer employs 101 workers and generates $28 million annually. A typical manufacturer of mechanical rubber products employs 93 workers and generates $23 million annually.
- The rubber products manufacturing industry consists of 1,300 companies that employ 133,900 workers, and generates $45 billion annually.
- Primary customers include automotive (manufacturers, suppliers, and repair shops), machinery and appliance manufacturers and repair services, aerospace (manufacturers and suppliers), industrial supply distributors, building materials suppliers, and consumer retail.
- The tire manufacturing segment is highly concentrated with the eight largest firms representing 85% of revenue. For the rest of the industry, the top eight firms in each segment represent 30-52% of their segment’s revenue.
- Large companies include Michelin, Goodyear, Bridgestone, Protolabs, Inc., CTI Industries, Ames Rubber Manufacturing, Warco Biltrite, Passaic Rubber, and Jefferson Rubber Works.
Industry Forecast
Rubber Product Manufacturers Industry Growth
Coronavirus Update
Apr 22, 2022 - Goodyear to Produce Rubber From Dandelions
- In collaboration with the Department of Defense, Goodyear is working to accelerate commercialization of natural rubber from dandelions. As a critical ingredient in military aircraft and truck tires, rubber is a strategic raw material. However, it’s primarily sourced from tropical locations outside the US. The multimillion dollar, multiyear project aims to produce rubber from a specific species of dandelion, Taraxacum kok-saghyz, that has proven to be a viable alternative to natural rubber trees. Commercialization of rubber from dandelions has the potential to provide rubber products manufacturers with alternative sources of supply in the future.
- The global market for rubber is forecast to reach US$51.2 billion by 2027, driven by heavy demand from the automotive industry for tires and other auto parts, according to a new report from Fortune Business Insights. Beyond the automotive industry, additional sources of demand include footwear, industrial goods, construction, textiles, and other consumer products will aid the expansion of the market. Asia Pacific, driven by rising production and consumption in China and India, is expected to see exponential growth.
- Demand from the manufacturing sector is expected to remain below pre-pandemic levels due to ongoing semiconductor shortages. Manufacturers’ production delays and failures to fulfill orders are resulting in lost customers. The problem works its way back through the supply chain and impacts plastics manufacturers’ sales. An early 2022 survey of manufacturing sector Chief Financial Officers by BDO found that the current shortages of chips will impact business over the next year by increasing prices (47% of respondents), hinder digital investment (42%), interrupt production (37%), decrease profits (31%), result in lost customers (39%) and prevent business expansion (39%).
- A St. Louis, MO, company that is hoping to reduce reliance on natural rubber imported from Asia is using gene editing technology to increase the sunflower’s natural rubber production. Industry experts say that the coronavirus pandemic exposed the fragility of the natural rubber supply chain: Workers responsible for collecting the rubber couldn't cross borders to reach plantations, letting trees go untapped. Factories that process rubber into usable products stopped operations for several months during the spring of 2020, leading to shortages when firms that use natural rubber products reopened. Edison Agrosciences expects to develop a sunflower variety that produces 3% natural rubber, an amount that will make it economically feasible to use the plant to create rubber products.
- Vehicle miles traveled (VMT), an indicator of tire demand, increased 10.6% year over year in February 2022, according to the Federal Highway Administration. VMT has recovered from the decline posted in 2020.
- Since rubber is used in a variety of building materials, demand is linked to construction activity. Total construction starts increased 9% year over year in the first quarter of 2022, according to Dodge Data & Analytics. Residential starts rose 3%, while nonresidential jumped 26%, and nonbuilding starts slipped 1%.
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