18 Aug. ➬ Rubber & Raw Materials Market Update | August 2026

📊 Rubber & Raw Materials Market Update | August 2026
I am trying to share relevant market developments a little more regularly going forward — especially where several factors come together and may affect availability, costs or purchasing decisions.
A few developments are currently worth watching:

🏭 Rubber chemicals supply in China
According to information received from market partners, production in a chemical industrial park in China has currently been suspended following local environmental protection measures.
Several chemical and rubber-chemical production facilities in the park are affected across different product groups.
The key question now is how quickly production can restart. Current indications point towards a possible restart later in August, but the timing remains uncertain.
This could temporarily affect availability and lead times for certain rubber chemicals over the coming weeks.

📈 Raw materials: a mixed picture
The feedstock situation is currently moving in different directions.
Aniline is turning firmer again, with additional increases expected in the short term.
At the same time, CS₂ prices have moved lower this month.
So this is not a broad-based raw-material inflation story — but the picture remains volatile and individual product chains need to be looked at separately.

🛢️ Middle East oil disruptions may last longer than previously expected
This is probably one of the more important new developments.

The U.S. EIA now expects part of the disrupted regional production capacity to remain offline through 2027, even if shipping conditions improve earlier.
This means energy and petrochemical feedstock costs could remain exposed to elevated volatility for longer than previously expected.

🚗 European tyre demand remains resilient
At the same time, the European replacement tyre market continues to show relatively solid demand.
Consumer tyre volumes increased by 3% in Q2 2026 compared with the previous year.
All-season tyres remain particularly strong:
➡️ +15% in Q2
➡️ +9% in H1

Truck & Bus replacement tyre volumes were also up 13% in Q2.