NR output up 6% in January

Natural rubber (NR) production registered a rise of 6 per cent in January, at 97,500 tonnes against 91,900 tonnes in the same month last year.

The rise in production was due to favourable winter season and maximum tapping by growers due to the prevailing higher prices. In most of the rubber plantations, tapping is expected to be prolonged for a couple of weeks as the climate in the hill areas of Kerala is cold. So the production in February is also expected to improve. According to stockists, production in February may cross 50,000 tonnes against 43,000 tonnes in February 2009.

The cumulative figures are still lagging behind as the total production during April-January period of the current financial year was 729,250 tonnes against 767,905 tonnes in the same period last year, registering a decline of 5 per cent.

During January, consumption improved 24 per cent to 79,500 tonnes against 64,000 tonnes in January 2009. As per the estimates of the Rubber Board a total of 773,800 tonnes were consumed in April-January against 726,000 tonnes in the same period of last financial year.

Imports increased 115 per cent to 146,650 tonnes in April-January as against 68,605 tonnes last year. This sharp increase also led to a surge in the stock of the commodity. The Rubber Board data indicates that the country is having a stock of 287,000 tonnes as against 240,000 tonnes in January 2009.

The set back on the export front continued in January also, though the Indian counters quoted lower prices than the global markets in January. Exports in April-January were just 13,000 tonnes against 42,700 tonnes in the same period last year.