Natural rubber production contracts by 16% in April-May 2018-19

10 Jul 2018 Evaluate

The Rubber Board in its latest report has showed that natural rubber (NR) production has contracted by 16% in the first two months (April-May) of 2018-19. As per the data, NR production was 82,000 tonnes in April-May 2018, as against 98,000 tonnes in April-May 2017. On the other hand, the consumption increased 13% to 200,000 tonnes in the same period.

Expressing concern over consistent decline in availability of natural rubber in the domestic market which has hit tyre units, Tyre manufacturers’ body The Automotive Tyre Manufacturers Association (ATMA) has said that while NR import is imperative to meet domestic demand, the policy environment is highly restrictive. Customs duty (on NR import) is a steep 25%; there are (also) further challenges in access. The tyre industry needs to adhere to a pre-import condition, for NR import against (tyre) export obligation. Further, the export obligation period (for tyres) has been reduced from 18 months to only six months.

Atma has also expressed concern over what it says is lack of timely availability of data on NR, hampering planning by the tyre industry. It said ‘As against the standard practice of release of (each) monthly data in the first week of the next month, the production, consumption data is being released by the Rubber Board very late. The industry had no clue about NR production patterns during the current fiscal even though a quarter had elapsed’.

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