India could face rubber shortage of 500,000 tn

Increasing demand from rubber manufacturers coupled with stagnant production could lead to a shortage of up to 500,000 tonnes in the country in the next five years, says an industry expert.

"As the demand for rubber is continuously growing but the production is not growing accordingly, it may lead to a situation where there could be a shortage of more than five lakh tonnes in the next five years," All India Rubber Industries Association President Vinod T Simon said.

He said that at present the total demand for natural rubber in the country is around 950,000 tonnes where as the production is expected to be nearly 850,000 tonnes in 2010.

"Domestic demand for natural rubber, a key component in tyre making, is likely to touch 1.5 million tonnes by 2015 but the production is projected to remain stagnant at 900,000 tonnes," Simon said.

Disruption of production in key rubber producing areas due to adverse whether conditions has pushed the prices of the commodity to record high in both international and domestic market.

"Rubber prices have tripled in a short span of time but now, we are more worried about the availability of commodity instead of their prices, as it is impossible to increase the production whereas demand is continuously growing," Simon said.

He said that even though the government was trying to increase the production- by planting rubber in one lakh hectares in Tripura, which is likely to come to production next year--it wouldn't be sufficient to meet the demand.