China's total in 2012, fuelled by demand from the automobile and other sectors, a senior rubber industry official said on Thursday, despite a slowdown in the world's second-largest economy. China accounts for 35 percent of global natural rubber consumption, and its appetite will have a major impact on the market, which has been haunted this year by fears that Europe's worsening debt crisis will crimp demand for commodities.
"The economy is slowing down, but there is still growth. Our growth rate has slowed down but the demand is larger than last year, of course," said Mary Xu, deputy secretary-general of the China Rubber Industry Association, which has 1,300 members. China's factories took a hit in May as export orders fell sharply, a private sector survey showed on Thursday, suggesting surprise weakness in April's hard economic data persists even as policymakers seek to shore up growth.
China's tyre output will rise to 483 million pieces in 2012 from 456 million last year, while consumption of natural and synthetic rubber may increase to 7.4 million tonnes from last year's 6.9 million, the industry body estimates. "The tyres are not only for autos, but also for the mining industry and others," Xu told Reuters on the sidelines of a conference organised by producer and consumer grouping the International Rubber Study Group. China signalled on Wednesday that it wanted to step up private investment in its energy sector, in line with recently unveiled government plans to fast-track infrastructure investment to help combat the slowing economy.
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