India's synthetic rubber consumption rose by 2% to 34,675 tonnes in February this year, while its production declined marginally to 9,569 tonnes during the period, latest Rubber Board data said.
In February 2011, rubber production stood at 9,634 tonnes, while consumption of the commodity was 33,925 tonnes.
During the month under review, consumption by the auto tyre industry rose marginally to 24,850 tonnes from 24,692 tonnes in the year-ago period, the data said.
Import of synthetic rubber went up by 16% to 27,695 tonnes in February, 2012, from 23,776 tonnes in the same period previous year.
Synthetic rubber is mostly used in the manufacture of tyres, besides in cycle tyres and tubes, footwear, belts and hoses, among other items.
In the first 11 months of the last fiscal, synthetic rubber production increased to 1.02 lakh tonnes from 1 lakh tonnes in the April-February period of the 2010-11 fiscal.
On the other hand total consumption of synthetic rubber rose to 3.87 lakh tonnes in April-February of 2011-12 from 3.75 lakh tonnes in the year-ago period.
Consumption by the auto tyre industry rose to 2.80 lakh tonnes from 2.72 lakh tonnes in the review period.
Total imports rose to 2.97 lakh tonnes in the April- February period of the last fiscal from 2.75 lakh tonnes in the same period of the previous fiscal.
The total stock of synthetic rubber in the country at the end of February, 2012, stood at 48,570 tonnes.