Rubber production up 66 per cent in June

After recording a fall in April and May, domestic natural rubber production increased 65.8 per cent in June, when compared with the same month last year.

The production in June this year rose to 63,000 tonne, as against 38,000 tonne in June, 2013, as per the latest provisional data of the Rubber board.

Supported by higher production in June, production in the first quarter of the current financial year increased 11.3 per cent to 167,000 tonne from 150,000 tonne for the same period of last financial year. Higher production in June was mainly on account of lower monsoon showers, which helped growers to continue with the tapping of trees.

Rubber production had dropped marginally during April and May of this year, when compared with the same months of last fiscal year. Production dropped 3.8 per cent in April and 10.2 per cent in May as against the respective months in 2013.

Normally rain affects tapping and processing of rubber, which happens during June and July.

While the consumption of natural rubber increased 5 per cent in this June and the cumulative consumption got up 2 per cent during April - June period.

The Rubber board data records a consumption of 86,000 tonne in June compared to 81,710 tonne in last June. The overall consumption in April - June period was 251,000 tones as against 246,015 tonne.

The sharp increase in imports continued in the month of June also and 32,550 tones were imported as against 23,001 tones, registering a growth of 42 per cent. There was a whopping increase of 65 per cent of the overall import of the commodity during April - June period. 96,392 tones were brought in during the period as against 58,345 tones in the same period of last financial year.

According to the data rubber export was very meager during June as the shipment was just 60 tones in June and the cumulative figure for Q1 was 119 tones as against 1888 tones, registering a fall of 94 per cent. In April 38 tones were exported and in May this was 21 tones only. The board's estimates indicate that at the end of this June the total stock in the country is 207,000 tones. This was 188,000 tones in June 2013.

Tyre sector concern
Meanwhile, Raghupati Singhania, Vice Chairman, Automotive Tyre Manufacturers Association (ATMA) said that the latest budget laid down a roadmap for reviving infrastructure and manufacturing both of which are crucial for sustained growth of auto and tyre sectors. The emphasis on road development with commitment of significant funds towards NHAI fulfils an urgent need to spur up infrastructure development in India. FM's proposal for development of expressways, parallel to industrial corridors, will help revitalise the Medium & Heavy Commercial Vehicles segment which has seen negative growth for two years in succession.

However, tyre sector was immensely hopeful that in view of Govt's avowed thrust on enhancing manufacturing competitiveness, the inverted duty structure prevailing in tyre sector will be corrected. That anomaly, which is continuing for the last several years, has not been addressed and is a matter of added concern with the industry. As it is, India's regional trade agreements are adversely impacting the domestic tyre industry as tyres in large volumes are finding an entry into India while import of raw materials is restricted as a direct outcome of these agreements. That could have really helped the Indian tyre sector without in anyway violating WTO regulations, he added.