| The Kottayam market also registered a drop of 50 paise a kg and closed at Rs 76 on Monday. |
| But contrary to the trend in the spot market, the futures prices, especially January and February contracts, have been showing an upward movement. |
| According to local traders here, the supply to terminal markets w as rather high during the last couple of weeks, as the seasonal production is on in full swing. |
| According to t he Rubber Board's estimates, the total production during the October-December period "� the main production season "� would be around 282,500 tonne. |
| This will be up by 11,000 tonne over the output during the same period last year. Although the production was slightly disturbed during October, owing to heavy rainfall, it had picked up by the beginning of November. |
| Meanwhile, the slowdown in consumption of natural rubber during the current year has also led to a decline in prices. |
| Earlier, the Rubber Board had projected an average increase of 5 per cent in consumption of natural rubber. |
| But the April-October period consumption grew by a meagre 2.2 per cent, while the production during the same period increased by 10.1 per cent at 464,660 tonne. The mismatch in production and consumption has led to a fall in spot prices. |
| However, experts opine that the picture may change by the beginning of the next year with the consumption picking up momentum. |
| This will be true not only for India, but for other countries too. |
| A section of traders expect a shortage of rubber by March, with the production slowing down by January-end. The shortage will lead to an upward movement of the prices, they added. |
| Production will be at the lowest ebb between March and May, owing to extreme summer heat. The anticipated fall in production and stock position the world over may help in the prices picking up. |
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