The eucommia ulmoides branch under the China Cash Forest Association was recently established in an effort to promote large scale development of the eucommia ulmoides rubber industry and reduce China's heavy reliance on rubber imports.
As natural rubber is a tropical plant and can grow only in Hainan Island and xishuangbanna domestically, more than 80 percent of natural rubber used in China is from overseas.
The volatile rubber prices in the international market have severely affected healthy development of the domestic rubber industry. Therefore, it is urgent to develop the second source of rubber, said Du Hongyan, an official of the Chinese Academy of Forestry.
At present, the planting area of eucommia ulmoides in China is more than 4 million mu (15 mu equal one hectare), accounting for more than 95 percent of the world's planting area, according to a report of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.
Compared to natural rubber, eucommia ulmoides can be planted in 27 Chinese provinces. China has made breakthroughs in the technology of planting eucommia ulmoides with the glue increasing to 400 kg per hectare, said the report.
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