Intl rubber expo in Chennai from January 17

The All India Rubber Industries Association (AIRIA), the apex body of the Indian rubber industry, and Chemical and Allied Product Export Promotion Council (Capexil), Ministry of Commerce, will jointly organise The International Rubber Expo (IRE) 2007, an exhibition-cum-conference in Chennai, from January 17-20, 2007.

IRE 2007, the fourth in its series, will see 40 paper presentations on the latest trends in rubber processing.

The conference will have experts discussing the latest machinery, trends and technologies available in processing natural and synthetic rubber.

The event is expected to generate business worth $500 million. "The Indian rubber industry is growing at over 25 per cent annually. The companies which participated in the last year's expo have experienced a sales growth between 100 per cent to 300 per cent," said Anil Sampat, chairman, IRE.

K M Philip, chairman emeritus of the event, said, "The automobile industry is the pillar of the rubber industry, as 45 per cent of rubber is being used for manufacturing tyres, while another 15-20 per cent is being absorbed in making channels, wipers, door biddings and under-the-hood-rubber parts. Together with other automakers, India is expected to cross the 3 million-plus-mark in the passenger car segment alone in the next 36 months."