The production of natural rubber rose 5.7% and stood at 259,000 tonnes during April-August 2017 period, as per the Rubber Board. The output of natural rubber during April-August 2016 was at 245,000 tonnes. The production of natural rubber in India is expected to reach 800,000 tonnes in 2017- 18, a growth of 16% over last year.
The imports have been consistently rising from 2008-09 and stood at 458,374 tonnes in 2015-16. However, in 2016-17 imports declined by 7% to 426,188 tonnes. Imports of Natural Rubber further declined by 11.6% during the period under review compared to the same period last year and 66% of the import was through duty paid channel. The Rubber Board has projected imports at 320,000 tonnes in 2017-18.
Further, the consumption during the same period increased from 4,33,930 tonnes to 441,380 tonnes. The consumption is seen at 1.07 million tonnes in 2017-18.