Where is all the Rubber Going?

In the past year, the price of natural rubber has more than doubled. This, in what is supposedly a great recession. This is being blamed mostly on demand from China.

What the hell are the Chinese doing with all the rubber they’re buying? Auto sales are down globally, so making tires is pointless. So is mine output, so making conveyor belts is ruled out. Condoms just don’t use that much rubber. Neither do gasket rings and suchlike.

It’s possible that Chinese companies have decided in the face of all logic to build up stocks in the face of falling demand. But I’m worried that they’re putting the rubber to far more nefarious uses. Specifically, that they’re building giant armoured robots to more successfully persuade the United States to hand over the Pacific states when they default on their sovereign debt.

Be afraid. Be very afraid.

5 Responses to Where is all the Rubber Going?

  1. […] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Aadisht Khanna, Shyam. Shyam said: #misleadingtitles RT @aadisht: New blog post: Where is all the Rubber Going? http://wokay.in/2010/05/14/where-is-all-the-rubber-going/ […]

  2. Punya says:

    Perhaps they’re mass producing condoms.

  3. Ganja Turtle says:

    Deep-thought provoking… I had the same idea as Punya above; maybe the Chinese are mass-producing these (http://gizmodo.com/5430413/put-a-giant-condom-on-your-bed) as a symbolic something to signal the size of their increasing clout in the global markets.

  4. Anees says:

    As if the existing controversies are not enuff….. thank god some journo has not yet read this post, else we’d have seen this in one of those 24hr News channels that love controversies, no matter how bad they are.

    to where all the rubber’s going, i have a better theory… Since all their products with “Melamine resin” has been caught & any further adulteration with this resin is impossible, they are giving “polyisoprene” (rubber) a try… US better start testing their protein foods, pet foods, baby foods etc for polyisoprene…. knowwatisay????

  5. Aadisht says:

    Punya, I mentioned in the post itself that condoms take up very little rubber. But I thinkGanja Turtle has come closer to the solution – only they are not making giant condoms but giant dildos. When it comes to terrifying the world into submission, a six foot penis may work as well (or even better) than a ten foot robot.

    Anees perhaps, but polyisoprene is even more expensive then milk, so hardly makes any sense to adulterate with that.

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