Butadiene rubber closed at 16,590 yuan/tonne, up 4.54% on the day and 2.33 points ahead of natural rubber's 2.21%. The NR–BR spread now stands at 3,555 yuan/tonne, with natural rubber actually priced above butadiene rubber. The cause sits upstream: concentrated maintenance at butadiene units cut available volumes and lifted BR's cost floor.

A stronger BR does not automatically hurt tire makers. The export orders of major domestic tire plants — to the U.S. and EU — are mostly settled in dollars, and with USD/CNY at 6.7035 a slightly weaker yuan returns a bit more RMB on conversion, partly offsetting the higher rubber purchase cost. Cost up, revenue up; margin is not eaten in step.

Two reads for SNSUC: first, our listed rubber grades must show NR and BR moves separately rather than a single “rubber” quote; second, when we run supply-chain finance for tire clients, the dollar-revenue versus RMB-purchase mismatch is a sharper risk variable than the rubber price alone.