Expressing fears that rising shortage of natural rubber may impact the growth of rubber industry, the industry asked for initiating urgent measures for securing future availability of rubber.
Speaking at the annual general meeting of All India Rubber Industries Association (AIRIA) attended by Rubber Board chairperson Sheela Thomas, representatives of the rubber industry, growers fraternity, rubber dealers and government officials, Vinod Simon, president, AIRIA, stated that the availability of natural rubber was going to be the chief concern that the industry would have to deal with during the next decade.
“In India the production and consumption of rubber have been matched but starting from 2010-11, the consumption of rubber has exceeded the production of rubber, while this year, the gap is further widening," he said.
The production fell behind consumption by more than 85,000 tonnes in 2010-11 (as per Rubber Board data) and during the current financial year, the gap between production and consumption of NR is likely to be in the range of 100,000 tonnes, according to Simon.
He said the deficit is bound to increase further in the coming years since the consumption of rubber by the industry will outpace the production by the plantation sector”, he said.
According to Rubber Board data during the year 2010-11, the production of natural rubber stood at 861,950 tonnes while the consumption stood at 947,715 tonnes, a deficit of more than 85,000 tonnes. During the first five months of current financial year, the production has been 311,200 tonnes while the consumption has been 400,995 tonnes.
“We have requested the Rubber Board that the acreage of rubber plantation in our country be increased substantially especially in the North Eastern part, as well as identify non-traditional areas where rubber cultivation can be increased. We have also suggested using satellite imaging to identify these areas on an urgent basis and initiate new rubber planting”, he added.
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Rubber Board chairperson Sheela Thomas said the Board would continue its efforts to increase NR production through expansion of rubber planted area and the enhancement of rubber productivity. It is keen on capitalizing the synergies of the co-existence of a well-established domestic rubber production sector and the fast-growing rubber consuming sector.
The meeting also drew the government's attention to certain discrepancies which are of concern to latex consuming industry. Latex continues to face 70 per cent import duty while import duty on natural rubber is 20 per cent or maximum Rs 20 per kg.
This, it said, is inexplicable as latex is a wet form of natural rubber which has about 60 per cent rubber and 40 per cent water. The latex-consuming industry consists of 900 units, most of which are in the small scale sector, manufacturing foam mattresses, surgical and other gloves, balloons, hot water bottles etc. The continued high import duty on latex is making their operations uncompetitive. The import duty on latex needs to be in line with duty on natural rubber.
The Indian rubber industry is primarily MSME (micro, small and medium enterprises)-oriented. Out of approximately 4,500 manufacturers of rubber products across the country, 58 are large-scale, 396 medium-scale and more than 4,000 belong to the small-scale and tiny sector.
According to AIRIA, the industry plays a core sector role in the country’s economy, employing more than 450,000 people. The industry manufactures 35,000 products and caters to all the three wings of defence, apart from civil aviation, aeronautics, railways, agriculture, transport, textiles, engineering industries, pharmaceuticals, family planning programmes, hospitals, sports sectors.