NR futures ended the final trading week of May higher across all exchanges, supported by “fresh speculative buying” and short covering on Chinese exchanges. Osaka prices, added JPX, “advanced in line with firmer overseas markets and strong buying interest on the Chinese market.” According to JPX, commodity funds and speculators have generally remained active in recent weeks, driving rubber prices to multi-year highs. Additional support came from concerns over tightening supply from Thailand, the world's largest natural rubber producer.
Selected rubber futures price trends on major trading exchanges
Exchange
Commodity
Delivery
Week to 22/5/26
Week to 29/5/26
% Change
Osaka
RSS3
Sept ‘26
400.8 (JPY)
416.0 (JPY)
+3.8%
SHFE
SCR/RSS
Sept ‘26
17,350 (CNY)
17,805 (CNY)
+2.6%
INE
TSR
Sept ’26
14,845 (CNY)
15,415 (CNY)
+3.8%
SICOM
TSR20
Sept ‘26
217.9 (US$c)
226.8 (US$c)
+4.1%
SHFE
BR
July ‘26
14,870 (CNY)
14,440 (CNY)
-2.9%
(ERJ calculation for selected futures pricing, as tracked by JPX)
2-wheeler plant capacity +5% by H1/f29; OHT +25% by H1/f28
2 June
JK Tyre
Phases expansions
Chennai and Vikrant (TBR) Chennai (PCR), India
About $530m (€454m)
increase group radial tire capacity in India by "around 24% over the next few years…”
28 May
Linglong Tire
Terminated tire plant project
Ponta Grossa, Parana, Brazil
Yuan8.7-bn (€1bn)
Slated to produce 14.7m units/yr tires
28 May
Continental
Completed tire plant expansion
Rayong, Thailand
€300m+
Added 3m/yr PC/LT tire capacity, 600 jobs / Started local radial motorcycle tire prod’n at site
26 May
Scandinavian Enviro Systems
Plans first fully owned full-scale tire pyrolysis plant
Nordic region
n/s
Expected capacity to process 70ktpa+ of scrap tires
21 May
Huangpu Tire Technology (Inner Mongolia)
New aviation, speciality tire plant
Inner Mongolia, China
Yuan1.2bn (€150m)
Approval to build unit to make: 80k/yr specialty engineering tires, 15k/yr new aviation tires, 15k/yr retread aviation tires
20 May
Jiahua Energy Chemical Industry
New 240ktpa synthetic rubber plant
Zhejiang province, China
Yuan1.25bn (€160m)
Construction planning public notice issued
13 May
Linglong Tire
Terminated plans for new tire plant
Tongchuan, Shaanxi, China
(€800m)
Announced 2021: capacity to produce 15.2m/yr radial tires and 500k/yr retreads
8 May
Toyoda Gosei
Invest in high growth areas
Including N America, India, and Brazii
Yen72bn (€390m)
Also reforms of Chinese operaions
7 May
Pirelli
Plans to start producing ‘cyber tire’
Rome, Georgia
n/s
US expansion
6 May
Service Long March Tyres
IPO to part finance new PCR tire plant
Pakistan
PKR22.5bn
Phase I capacity of 2m units/yr rising to 3m units/yr by 2030 /
5 May
Linglong Tire
New tire manufacturing site
Borg El Arab, Egypt
$2bn (€1.7bn)
In talks with Egyptian govt.
MARKETS
Calling all – Custom compounders
ERJ has now launched the Custom Compounding Survey 2026. The annual survey is open to all suppliers of rubber- and/or elastomer-based compounds. Survey findings will be published in ERJ July/August issue - with a deadline for reply of 25 June. Read more