The Hindu : Karnataka News : Rubber growers hopes rise Field notes

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Karnataka

Karnataka

Rubber growers hopes rise Field notes

The price of the produce has crossed Rs. 105

Remunerative: A woman taps rubber in a plantation near Mangalore

Even as Dakshina Kannada district leads in rubber production in the State, growers have reasons to cheer about.

The growers have been getting less than Rs. 100 a kg of the produce. But now they are in for better times. The offseason price of the produce has crossed Rs. 105 a kg for the first time in the last few years.

The rate on Wednesday was Rs. 105.75 for SSR4 (Ribbed Smoked Sheet grade 4). It marked a rise of 50 paise compared with the previous day’s price. Within a week’s time, rubber price has gone up by over Rs. 5 a kg. Even ungraded rubber costs Rs. 103 a kg or more.

According to sources in the regional office of Rubber Board here, the demand for rubber has been steadily growing both in the domestic and international market. The leading consumer, China, in particular, has been looking for large quantity of rubber. India, backed by spurt in automobile industries, is billed to emerge as second largest consumer by 2020.

Though the price rise is expected during offseason, rubber had hardly registered this sharp rise, sources in the Rubber Board said. Recently, top officials of Rubber Board, who were here to attend a seminar, assured that rubber price would be remunerative. The area under rubber cultivation too has been on the rise in the . A little more than 32,500 hectares of land is under rubber production with more than 27,000 farmers engaged in its cultivation.

GOVIND BELGAUMKAR IN MANGALORE

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