China maps out plans for rubber industry. (Market Focus).

China has set some lofty goals for its robber industry through the year 2005. The main item is a reduction in the consumption of raw materials and energy by an average of 40-50%, according to a report from the China Chemical Industry as reported in ChinaOnline. Key tire projects include development of environment-friendly tires, all-steel wire radials for construction machinery, tire simulation technology and an increase in the proportion of synthetic rubber in tire making.

The report noted that rubber product manufacturing is a major component of China's chemical industry. There are more than 4,000 rubber processing plants in the country. Of them, 100 have an annual output of more than $12.08 million and 11 have more than $120.77 million.

The industry employs a total of 690,000 and processed 1.8 million tons of rubber in 1997, ranking second in the world. There are 14 synthetic rubber companies in China with a production capacity of 670,000 tons.

China, since the late 1970s, has imported 10 assembly lines for radial, cross-ply and construction tires; 40 plus assembly lines for automotive sealing strips; and technology for making medical butyl rubber plugs. Today the industry has 14 specialized research and development units employing almost 3,000.

The report said that R&D projects include rubber parts for luxury cars and construction, petroleum prospecting and extraction, home appliance manufacturing, thermoplastic high strength cog v-belts, super high pressure along with large diameter ducts, nylon-rubber ducts and recycling.

The CCI said China has localized imported radial tire technology in the past decade and developed 68 auxiliaries, raising the number of China-made auxiliaries from 100 to more than 200 and added 27 assembly lines with an annual capacity of 20,000 tons.

The report says the Chinese rubber industry lags behind developed countries in research, productivity, quality and energy consumption. Due to funding shortages and a lack of high qualified researchers, the country mostly imitates imported technology and innovations are limited.

The average Chinese rubber worker processed 2.6 tons of raw rubber in 1997, compared with 12.46 tons in Japan and 8.78 tons in Taiwan. The CCI plans to address product quality. The report indicated that the mileage of a cross-ply heavy-duty tire made in China is only half that of those manufactured in developed countries. A Chinese made oil seal lasts 50,000-80,000 kilometers below 120 [degrees] C compared to 100,000 kilometers in temperatures up to 200 [degrees] C for imports.