India’s natural rubber export dried up completely in July against 9,299 tonnes in the same month last year, as domestic prices far exceeded global rates, according to the state-run Rubber Board.
The outbound shipment of natural rubber has also shrunk to 834 tonnes since April, compared with 25,599 tonnes in the same period last fiscal. The slump may prompt the government to trim its natural rubber export target of 50,000 tonnes for this financial year.
“Domestic prices have been ruling far above the global prices, prompting large consumers such as tyre makers to import more, making export a less profitable option. Lack of demand in the international market, too, has hit the export,” a senior board official said. The wide gap in the domestic and global prices reflected in the import of NR, which surged over eight-fold to 20,412 tonnes last month. India had imported only 2,589 tonnes of the natural variety in the same month last year.
