Natural rubber production declines, demand-supply gap rises to 45%

The tyre manufacturers have asked the government to reduce the import duty for natural rubber to less than 10 per cent.

Consumption of natural rubber (NR) rose 12 per cent crossing 10.2 lakh tonne in the period between April 2018 to January 2019, increasing the demand and domestic supply gap to 45 per cent. Alarmed by the shortage of domestic supply, tyre manufacturers have asked the government to reduce the import duty for rubber to less than 10 per cent.

Data from Rubber Board shows that production stood at just 5.6 lakh tonne during April 2018 to January 2019, compared to 5.97 lakh tonne in the same period last year. 
 

The production–consumption gap for the same period of previous fiscal stood at