China Grows Strategic Rubber in the Gobi Desert to Reduce Reliance on Imports

A 14 Hectare Forest Takes Root in Xinjiang

A project begun in 2016 has turned 14 hectares of barren land in Xinjiang's Gobi Desert into a productive plantation of Duzhong trees, creating a domestic source of natural rubber for military and industrial uses. The trees now grow where scarce water, strong sunlight and temperatures swinging between scorching days and freezing nights once made cultivation seem unlikely.

The experiment was launched by Su Yinquan, dean of forestry at Northwest A&F University. By 2025, the plot had become a dense forest whose growth exceeded the team's projections. Its success has helped drive plans for a much larger Duzhong industry, including another 300,000 hectares of plantations in Xinjiang.

China's interest reaches beyond reclaiming land. The country is the world's largest consumer and importer of natural rubber. In 2025, it consumed more than 7 million tonnes, with over 85 percent coming from abroad, mainly Southeast Asia. Rubber is essential to vehicle manufacturing and military equipment, making access to it a concern for both industry and national security.

Duzhong, a tree long used in traditional Chinese medicine, offers a different route to production from the tropical rubber plantations on which China depends. Researchers have worked on two problems together: growing productive trees in desert conditions and extracting their rubber efficiently enough for industrial use.

The project brings resource security, defense preparedness and land reclamation into the same experiment. Its wider ambition is to turn land previously considered unsuitable for agriculture into a source of strategic materials, while giving China greater protection against interruptions in foreign supplies.

Why Imported Rubber Is a Strategic Concern

China's automotive sector and industrial base account for its enormous demand for natural rubber. Domestic production supplies only a small portion of consumption, leaving the world's second largest economy dependent on plantations abroad and the shipping routes that connect them to Chinese factories.

Hevea brasiliensis, the Brazilian rubber tree that supplies conventional natural rubber, thrives in tropical climates. Southeast Asian producers are therefore central to China's supply. Duzhong offers an alternative because it can grow outside the humid conditions required by Hevea.

Natural rubber is used in civilian vehicle tires and advanced military hardware. A disruption in deliveries could spread through manufacturing sectors that employ millions of people. Geopolitical tensions add to that exposure, while continued growth in vehicle production for domestic buyers and export markets increases the need for reliable supplies.

The COVID-19 pandemic and the global logistics crises that followed showed how quickly shortages of essential materials can spread through industrial production. The search for a domestic alternative brought renewed attention to Duzhong, an ancient native species whose industrial possibilities had received less attention than its medicinal uses.

A Medicinal Tree With Rubber Throughout Its Tissues

Duzhong, known scientifically as Eucommia ulmoides, has been used in traditional Chinese medicine for more than 2,000 years. Its bark has been valued for treating ailments associated with the kidneys and liver and for strengthening bones and muscles. Historical texts describe its use, with emperors and physicians praising its restorative properties.

The tree also produces natural rubber through a biological process different from that of tropical rubber trees. Described as China's only native source of natural rubber and the second largest global rubber resource after the Brazilian rubber tree, Duzhong has properties that synthetic alternatives cannot replicate.

Rubber is distributed across several parts of the plant. Fruit peels contain 15 to 18 percent rubber, bark contains 8 to 10 percent, and leaves contain 2 to 3 percent. Those concentrations make fruit peels especially valuable for extraction, while the wider distribution creates multiple harvest opportunities throughout the year.

Hevea rubber is collected by carefully tapping the bark for latex. Duzhong instead provides rubber within plant tissues, making the processing of harvested material central to its usefulness. Farmers have long been able to sell bark for medicine or gather leaves for tea, but obtaining the rubber economically has been more difficult.

How Researchers Adapted Duzhong to Desert Conditions

Duzhong is native to central and southern China, particularly the Yangtze Plain. The deciduous species has survived for millions of years under varied environmental conditions. Researchers used that resilience as the genetic starting point for developing trees suited to the Gobi Desert.

Su secured a lease on the 14 hectares of barren land in 2016. No one had previously attempted to cultivate Duzhong in this region. Limited water, intense solar radiation and extreme temperatures made the experiment risky, with the possibility that the planting could fail entirely.

Su and his team concluded that transplanting existing varieties would not be enough. They established a dedicated breeding base in Lueyang County, Shaanxi, and screened more than 50 elite Duzhong germplasms collected across China. Germplasm is the genetic material used in breeding, allowing researchers to select plants with useful inherited traits.

The breeding program assessed both medicinal value and rubber yield. Drought resistance, tolerance of cold and rubber concentration were priorities as the team developed strains adapted to dry desert conditions. The aim was to obtain trees that could survive the site and produce a useful harvest.

Earlier cultivation efforts had struggled with modest yields and difficult extraction, limiting commercial prospects. By 2025, however, the Xinjiang trial had developed into a dense, productive forest that surpassed growth expectations. Zhu Mingqiang, a Northwest A&F University professor involved from the beginning, announced earlier this month that the Duzhong industry was flourishing.

From a Pilot Plot to National Expansion Plans

China currently cultivates Duzhong on approximately 300,000 hectares. The national target is 3.3 million hectares by 2030, while Xinjiang is slated to add another 300,000 hectares of plantations. The national goal is 11 times the current cultivated area, and Xinjiang's planned addition alone matches the present national total.

The scale of those ambitions extends far beyond the original 14 hectare experiment. Expansion could create a new agricultural economy in the desert region and reshape domestic rubber production. The Gobi project is also intended as a template for bringing other marginal land into productive agricultural use.

The development has unfolded across several stages:

• 2016: Su Yinquan leased 14 hectares of barren Gobi land in Xinjiang to begin the cultivation experiment.
• 2016 to 2030: The National Duzhong Industry Development Plan identified extraction from the whole plant as essential to commercial competitiveness.
• 2025: The experimental plantation had become a dense, productive forest exceeding growth projections.
• November: Zhu Mingqiang announced an extraction breakthrough published in ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering.
• 2030: China aims to reach 3.3 million hectares of Duzhong cultivation nationally.

The expansion figures are targets. A timetable for completing Xinjiang's additional 300,000 hectares, separate from the national 2030 goal, was not given.

Making Extraction Economically Practical

Duzhong rubber remained largely a laboratory curiosity for decades because traditional extraction was labor intensive and inefficient. Harvesting plant material was only part of the job. Separating the rubber required complex processing that could consume more value than it produced.

The 2016-2030 National Duzhong Industry Development Plan identified extraction from the whole plant as a necessary step toward competing economically with imported Hevea rubber. That approach seeks to recover useful products from different parts of the tree, rather than relying on one crop or discarding material that still has value.

In November, Zhu announced a breakthrough published in ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering. The process, called the "rubber priority" method, combines environmentally friendly solvents with low melting points and biological treatment to begin separating the gum. Targeted steps then isolate the rubber.

The method specifically addresses extraction from fruit peels, where rubber concentrations are highest. It delivers greater extraction efficiency, higher yields and exceptional purity while reducing energy consumption and solvent use. Those changes tackle the processing costs that had restricted Duzhong's industrial potential.

The process also preserves other valuable compounds for pharmaceutical use. Combining rubber recovery with medicinal products creates a model for using the plant without waste. The aim is to make production practical and sustainable at a large scale, turning a niche medicinal crop into an industrial feedstock for civilian and military manufacturing.

Why a Small Addition Can Matter for Military Tires

Duzhong rubber's military value includes improving the performance of rubber compounds. Adding just 3 to 5 percent to a compound improves durability and resistance to wear in tires designed for demanding conditions and resistance to punctures.

A rubber compound is a mixture formulated to give a finished product particular properties. In this case, the small proportion of Duzhong rubber can help the tire withstand use on harsh terrain. For military vehicles, tire failure can interrupt a mission or put personnel at risk.

The material also maintains flexibility under extreme temperatures, supporting reliable performance in desert heat and arctic cold. That temperature range matters for equipment expected to operate in very different environments.

The tire application connects the plantation to a specific manufacturing need. China is seeking a domestic material that can improve performance in demanding uses while reducing exposure to imported rubber supplies. The value lies both in where the resource comes from and in what it contributes to the finished product.

Protecting Electronics With Shielding Composites

Duzhong rubber is also used in advanced electromagnetic shielding composites. A composite combines materials to obtain useful properties, in this case shielding alongside flexibility and durability. Such materials protect sensitive electronic systems from interference or damage.

Modern military equipment needs protection against electronic warfare and electromagnetic pulse threats. Electromagnetic shielding helps keep unwanted electromagnetic energy from disrupting the electronics that equipment relies on.

The unique molecular structure of Duzhong rubber provides effective shielding properties while retaining flexibility and durability under extreme conditions. Aircraft, naval vessels and ground vehicles all need materials capable of protecting sensitive electronics.

This use gives the crop a role beyond transportation tires. Its properties connect agricultural research and chemical processing to the protection of advanced military systems, broadening the reasons for developing a reliable domestic supply.

What the Desert Project Means for Supply Security

China's Duzhong program fits into broader defense modernization efforts as geopolitical competition intensifies. Domestic production of critical materials reduces vulnerability to sanctions and interruptions in supply. The Gobi plantations also offer protection against volatility in international rubber markets.

The project depends on linked advances. Breeding makes the trees productive in difficult conditions; extraction makes their rubber accessible at an industrial scale; and the use of medicinal compounds helps recover more value from the harvest. Together, those developments address the biological and economic barriers that previously limited Duzhong.

Xinjiang's plantation shows how an extreme environment can yield a resource previously considered impractical to cultivate locally. Reclaiming barren land adds another purpose to the program, alongside securing rubber for factories and military equipment.

The national expansion target reflects the ambition to move beyond a successful experiment. With more than 85 percent of China's natural rubber consumption supplied from abroad, the program brings agricultural innovation and national security planning together around a concrete vulnerability: access to a material needed by both civilian industry and defense manufacturing.

The Bottom Line

• A Duzhong experiment begun in 2016 turned 14 hectares of barren Gobi land in Xinjiang into a productive forest by 2025.
• China consumed more than 7 million tonnes of natural rubber in 2025, with over 85 percent supplied from abroad.
• Researchers led by Northwest A&F University screened more than 50 elite germplasms to develop trees suited to desert conditions.
• Duzhong fruit peels contain 15 to 18 percent rubber, compared with 8 to 10 percent in bark and 2 to 3 percent in leaves.
• The "rubber priority" extraction process reduces energy and solvent use while recovering rubber and preserving pharmaceutical compounds.
• Adding 3 to 5 percent Duzhong rubber improves tire durability and resistance to wear; the material also serves in electromagnetic shielding composites.
• China targets 3.3 million hectares of Duzhong cultivation by 2030, with another 300,000 hectares planned in Xinjiang.