Kerala Government will procure rubber from the growers in order to stabilise the prices in the open market. This was announced by the chief minister Oommen Chandy in the state assembly today. Replying to an urgent motion, moved by K Suresh Kurup, an opposition member, raising the issue of the continuous fall in rubber prices, he said that the government had sought central financial assistance for the market intervention operations. The government has also requested the ministry of Commerce to procure rubber in order to stabilise the prices. The ministry is seriously considering this, he added. Government will convene a high level meeting in order to discuss the various aspects of the procurement operations. He said that the local rubber prices had a downward trend in line with the global markets. Yet, Kerala gets higher price than the international markets, he added.
Meanwhile, Suresh Kurup alleged that import through the duty free channel and import at lower duty had affected the local market very badly. The central government is rather passive towards the urgent needs of the 1 million plus rubber growers in the country. The government is so serious to reduce the loss of oil marketing companies, but not at all serious about the sharp and continuous fall in rubber prices and pathetic plight of the farmers, he said. Rubber price today dropped to Rs 142/Kg from Rs 150, ten days back. Import, which is one of the main sources of supply of rubber in the country currently, shot up to 264,576 tones in April – December period, as against 173,441 tones in the same period of last year, recording a growth of 53 per cent. There is no point in raising the import duty lately as already tyre industry had imported as per their requirement, he said.
Finance minister, K M Mani said that the government is much concerned about the pathetic condition in the rubber growing areas of the state. 92 per cent of the rubber production is being carried out in Kerala. The government had set apart Rs 10 crore for the market intervention operations in the latest budget and is ready to allocate more money for procurement. He said that procurement operations would be carried out through the rubber producers co-operative societies. An action plan will be chalked out for this and the Minister for Co-operation will co-ordinate the market intervention initiatives.
Mani, a veteran leader of Kerala Congress, which has strong clout in the rubber growing areas, said that his party is ready to go for a strike against the anti-farmer attitude of the central government.