Quality logo for export rubber will fetch better prices: Rubber Board

The prevailing market situation, in which the international rubber prices are ruling much above the domestic prices, is conducive to export, which in turn may help Indian growers to realise international price, said Sheela Thomas, chairman, Rubber Board.

She observed that using the quality certification logo of the Rubber Board would increase the acceptability of Indian natural rubber (NR) in the world market. She was distributing the Indian NR brand certificates to the first batch of exporters, exporting with the logo.

The certification will entitle the exporters to use the logo designed by the Board on their consignment. Branding is expected to establish Indian NR as a quality product and help it fetch a premium price, which will benefit not only the exporters but the producers as well. Such a branding of NR for export is the first of its kind to be implemented in any rubber producing country.

The use of logo is permitted for the export consignments conforming to the quality specifications as defined in the Green Book and by the Bureau of Indian Standards.

The branding is for the shipment of RSS (Ribbed Smoked Sheet), ISNR (Indian Standard Natural Rubber) and concentrated latex grades. The holographic logo stickers for sealing the export consignments are developed by C-DIT (Centre for Development of Imaging Technology).

The certificates were awarded to Pala Marketing Cooperative Society (exporting sheet rubber to Turkey), Hevea Crumb Rubber Factory and Ashok Trade Links (both exporting block rubber to Pakistan). A good response for branding is observed from the NR exporters and more than 500 tonnes of branded rubber is expected to be shipped during the next week.