Styrene-butadiene rubber (SBR) is a mixture of butadiene and styrene, in which the amount of butadiene exceeds that of styrene by roughly three times. As such, SBR market behaviour is very sensitive to the fluctuations of prices for butadiene and styrene. Recent butadiene price hikes are instrumental in negatively affecting SBR market margins, which will eventually result in some increases in SBR prices. However, this rise in SBR prices is lagging behind due to the current macroeconomic situation, which is full of uncertainty. Moreover, SBR-consuming sectors are not ready to accept SBR price hikes. Therefore, further erosion of SBR margins is inevitable. As a result, many producers, dissatisfied with curtailed profitability margins, are now running their SBR plants at reduced capacity and keeping track of the recent events on the market. Such kind of SBR market behaviour demonstrates its proneness to volatility, subject to the market situation with its feedstock and products. Despite volatility, global styrene-butadiene rubber market has shown steady growth during 2006-2015, and this trend is likely to prevail in the near future. It seems that the current uncertain macroeconomic situation, coupled with SBR market growth prospects, could hardly stop the previously initiated projects aimed at adding or expanding SBR-manufacturing capacities.
Some recent SBR projects, including company name, country of project realization and planned production capacity
In-depth analysis of the global styrene-butadiene rubber (SBR) market is provided in the insightful research report “Styrene-Butadiene Rubber (SBR): 2016 World Market Outlook and Forecast up to 2020”.