Brussels 26 September 2017 – Availability and unimpeded access to raw materials is one of the essential conditions for industry to operate and is therefore a key subject of work for ETRMA.

 

As part of this commitment, ETRMA contributed to the process of revision of the Critical Raw Material List and welcomed the information that Natural Rubber was included in the 2017 List. The 2017 criticality assessment was carried out for 61 candidate materials (58 individual materials and 3 material groups for a total of 78 materials). Natural rubber was the only biotic raw material to be included in the 27 raw materials that passed the assessment.

 

“This is an important step for our sector. Natural rubber will receive proper political attention and consequent support when dealing with issues related to the supply of natural rubber” said Mrs Cinaralp, Secretary General of ETRMA.

 

The new Critical Raw Material List was adopted by the College of Commissioners on 13 September and communicated as part of the EU industrial strategy on 18 September as an essential element “to help ensure the secure, sustainable and affordable supply for the EU manufacturing industry".

 

“Indeed, said Mrs Cinaralp, it is our hope that the inclusion of natural rubber on the list will strengthen the competitiveness of the rubber industry, stimulate the production of natural rubber also beyond traditional producing countries, increase awareness of potential raw material supply risks and support the efforts of European Commission when negotiating trade agreements, in order to challenge potential trade distortion measures”

 

The 2017 List will be valid for three years.

 

***ends***

 

For further information, please contact Marta Conti, Communication Manager

 

The Critical Raw Material List can be found here.

The industry employs directly more than 360 000 people with a turnover of €73B in 2016, which constitutes about half a point of the EU turnover. ETRMA’s membership include the following tyre manufacturers: APOLLO VREDESTEIN, BRIDGESTONE EUROPE, BRISA, COOPER TIRES, CONTINENTAL, GOODYEAR DUNLOP TIRES EUROPE, HANKOOK, MARANGONI, MICHELIN, NOKIAN TYRES, PIRELLI TYRE, PROMETEON Tyre S.r.l., and TRELLEBORG WHEEL SYSTEMS. Associations in the following countries are also members of ETRMA: Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain and the UK.