Kerala - Kochi   

No shortage of natural rubber

KOCHI: The Rubber Board predicts that though there will be a production-consumption gap of 85,000 tonnes of natural rubber (NR) during the current financial year, there will be no shortage of the commodity in the domestic market as the opening stock for 2010-11 was 2.53 lakh tonnes compared to 1.96 lakh tonnes during 2009-10.

The projected closing stock of 2010-11 is 1.89 lakh tonnes.

The Board also projects that natural rubber production in the country will be in the range of 8.93 lakh tonnes during 2010-11 compared to 8.31 lakh tonnes during 2009-10.

Provisional figures show natural rubber production during April-July period as 2.23 lakh tonnes, up 6.5 per cent compared to the same period last financial year. Natural rubber production during 2009-10 was lower by 3.8 per cent compared to 2008-09, largely due to adverse weather conditions, growing stock of old plantations and intense harvesting in 2008.

Rubber import

Rubber import for the period between April and July this year has been provisionally put at more than 48,000 tonnes, whereas during the whole of 2009-10 natural rubber import was 1.76 lakh tonnes. It is estimated that imports will be around 70,000 tonnes for the whole of 2010-11.

It has also been projected that there will be a stock of 1.89 lakh tonnes at the end of 2010-11 compared to the carryover stock of 2.53 lakh tonnes at the end of the last financial year.

Consumption of NR in the country went up by 6.8 per cent during the last financial year compared to 2008-09. The projected NR consumption for the current year is 9.78 lakh tonnes and consumption went up 3.3 per cent during the April-July period this year.

Automotive industry's use of natural rubber grew 5.4 per cent between April and July this year compared to the same period last year. Tyre production in the country grew by 33 per cent during the same period. Non-tyre sector showed a decline in use by 0.3 per cent during the period.

The Rubber Board figures also say that export of NR during April-July 2010 amounted to 4,335 tonnes as compared to 926 tonnes during the same period last year.

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