Russia's exports of synthetic rubber rose 8.3% year-on-year to 943,500 mt in 2013, according to the country's Federal Customs Service's (FCS) data released Friday.
The FCS did not give details of export volumes for each month. But last month it said Russia exported 859,600 mt of synthetic rubber in January-November. This puts December exports at 83,900 mt, up by 3.1% year-on-year.
Revenue from exporting synthetic rubber continued to decline, with just under $2.4 million reported for 2013. This was a decrease of 11.2% from 2012, as the global synthetic rubber market was under pressure.
Prices of different grades of synthetic rubber vary significantly.
According to Platts data, the spot price of emulsion styrene butadiene rubber (ESBR) 1502 in Northwest Europe averaged at Eur1,417/mt ($1,941/mt) in the final quarter of last year. This compares to Eur1,917.5/mt in the fourth quarter of 2012.
The bulk of exports, 89.3%, went to countries outside the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), stable from the previous year. Belgium, Poland, China, Hungary, Belarus and the US were the main destinations.
Main destinations for Russian synthetic rubber exports in 2013, mt
Country Volume
Belgium 168,831
Poland 91,656
China 86,695
Hungary 77,379
Belarus 63,854
US 52,755
Latvia 39,975
Turkey 36,709
Romania 30,679
Czech Rep. 30,362
Source: Rosstat
According to the information published by Russia's Statistics Office last month, output of synthetic rubber in 2013 totaled 1.48 million mt, up by 2.7% on the year.
This suggests that Russia continued to export over half (63.75%) of the domestically synthesized rubber. But Russia also imports rubber, both synthetic and natural.
In 2013, Russian imports of synthetic rubber totalled 87,466 mt, mainly from Germany, South Korea and Finland.
