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Natural rubber is a natural resource that is vital in modern society. About 70% of global natural rubber consumption is in the production of tires, but approximately 85% of global production relies on smallholders, mainly in Southeast Asia such as Thailand and Indonesia. The existing agricultural practice used by smallholders have limitations and there are concerns about illegal logging, human rights issues, traditional farming techniques and other concerns.

In striving to be a corporate group that contributes to the realization of a sustainable society, the Sumitomo Rubber Group has long been actively engaged in various efforts to improve the sustainability of our business activities. One of the most important of these efforts is working toward achieving sustainable natural rubber, as natural rubber is the primary raw material in our main product: tires. We promote initiatives including carrying out risk assessment/reduction activities^*2 using application software that enables the mapping of natural rubber supply chains.

By participating in the PROJECT TREE, we will further promote our initiatives to improve the traceability and sustainability of the supply chain. Through this project, we will promote activities to support smallholder farmers, such as activities to identify/mitigate smallholder farmers’ risks associated with sustainability and their capacity building for yield increase. In addition, we will strive to comply with the EU Deforestation Regulation^*3 by using a blockchain technology and through the “TREE + (plus) rubber” procurement, which provides excellent traceability.