Rubber

Harrison LiuANTH-063Voiceover Presentation

1510

•Spanish missionaries note use of rubber by Aztecs

1751

•French scientist La Condamine publishes paper on uses of rubber

1770

•Joseph Priestly notes rubber can erase pencil marks

1833

•Charles Mackintosh dissolves rubber in naphtha, allowing for rubber processing

1839

•Charles Goodyear invents the vulcanization process

History of Rubber[4]

Synthetic Rubber1909 - Fritz Hofmann

synthesizes first synthetic rubber[1]

1910 – 1930s - Other synthetic rubbers developed:

1960s – Synthetic rubber becomes commercially viable[8]

Fritz Hofmann

NeopreneSilicone Rubber

Buna S

Natural Rubber

The DilemmaWhy spend so much money and

time to develop a synthetic substitute for a low-cost, widely available commodity?◦Substitute more expensive than the

original![3]

Synthetic rubbers non-economical◦ More expensive, lower quality[3]

Synthetic rubbers important military and political resource1. No viable domestic source of natural rubber[2]

2. Overseas rubber supply unreliable[6]

Military need > economic inefficiency of SR

Military Self-Sufficiency

?Rubber

producing countries

Rubber Moves to Southeast Asia

Rubber produced from latex

Latex trees originate from Brazil[7]

South American leaf-blight prevents plantations in the Americas[2] Plantations established

in Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand[8]

Southeast Asia now produces >90% of all natural rubber[9]

Rubber MigrationBrazil –

Wild Harvest

SE Asia – Plantation Agriculture

A Decentralized Commodity

Rubber supplies unreliable due to large amounts of small-holder production[6]

◦ Few economies of scale◦ Rubber trees need little maintainance◦ 95% pure product[7]

Dispersed production leaves rubber supplies vulnerable to political unrest

1905 1910 1915 1920 1925 1930 1935 1940 1945 1950 19550

200

400

600

800

1000

Estate and Small-Holding Production[5]

YearPro

ducti

on (

'000 long t

ons)

Small holders = 92% production decrease

Estates = 74% production decrease

1936 1938 1940 1942 1944 1946 1948 19500

100000

200000

300000

400000

500000

600000

700000

800000900000

U.S. Synthetic Rubber Production[5]

Year

Pro

ducti

on (

long t

ons)

The Rise of Synthetics

Natural rubber large national security risk◦ Overseas production◦ Unreliable supply

Synthetics a solution◦ Domestically produced via petroleum refining[6]

◦ Supplied by large, controllable corporations[6]

U.S. Entry into WWII

ConclusionDespite higher prices and lower

quality, synthetic rubber’s early success can be attributed to the military necessity of having a domestically controlled, stable source of rubber.

References1. A.J.B. (1943). Some implications of synthetic rubber. Bulletin of

International News, 20(5), 194-200.

2. Bangham, W. N. (1947). Plantation rubber in the new world. Economic Botany, 1(2), 210-229.

3. Bauer, P. T. (1947). The prospects of rubber. Pacific Affairs, 20(4), 381-390.

4. Garvey, B. S. (1941). Synthetic rubber. Scientific Monthly, 52(1), 48-55.

5. Kellet, W. G. G. (1949). The sources and nature of statistical information in special fields of statistics: International Rubber statistics. Journal of the Royal Statistical Society, 112(4), 419-435.

6. Phillips, C. (1960). The competitive potential of synthetic rubber. Land Economics, 36(4), 322-332.

7. Rhines, C. E. (1958). Technical developments in natural rubber production. Economic Botany, 12(1), 80-86.

8. Tharian, G. (1987). International commodity agreements: The case of natural rubber. Social Scientist, 15(4), 77-86.

9. Whaley, G. (1948). Rubber - the primary sources for american production. Economic Botany, 2(2), 198-216.